Added 7 October 2026
fear
/fɪə/ noun
In Latin: timor, metus, pavor Wiktionary
noun Definition from Wiktionary (CC BY-SA). Pronunciation from Wiktionary, via Kaikki.org. More about fear at Wordnik → Where our words come from →
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A strong, unpleasant emotion or feeling caused by actual or perceived danger or threat.
He was struck by fear on seeing the snake.
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A phobia, a sense of fear induced by something or someone in particular.
Not everybody has the same fears.
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Something one is afraid of; the object of one’s fear.
Spiders are my greatest fear.
verb
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To be afraid of (something or someone); to consider or expect (something or someone) with alarm.
I fear the worst will happen.
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To feel fear.
Never fear; help is always near.
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To worry about, to feel concern for, to be afraid for .mw-parser-output .object-usage-tag{font-style:italic}.mw-parser-output .deprecated{color:var(--wikt-palette-grey-lime-8,olivedrab)}[with for].
She fears for her son’s safety.
adjective
Origin
From Middle English feer, fere, fer (“fear”), from Old English fǣr, ġefǣr (“calamity, sudden danger, peril, sudden attack, terrible sight”), from Proto-Germanic *fērō, *fērą (“danger”), from Proto-Indo-European *per- (“to go through, carry forth, try”). Cognate with Dutch gevaar (“danger, risk, peril”), German Gefahr (“danger, hazard, risk”), Danish fare (“danger, hazard, risk”), Faroese and Icelandic fár (“accident, anger, calamity”), Norwegian Bokmål and Norwegian Nynorsk fare (“danger”), Swedish fara (“danger, risk, peril”), Latin perīculum (“danger, risk, trial”), Ancient Greek πεῖρα (peîra, “trial, experiment”), Armenian փորձ (pʻorj, “attempt”). Doublet of peril.
From Wiktionary, via Kaikki.org (CC BY-SA)