Definitions

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition.

  • adjective Causing or capable of causing fear.
  • adjective Fearful; timid.

from The Century Dictionary.

  • Causing fear; fearful; frightful; dreadful.
  • Timid; apprehensive; frightened: as, “a silly, fearsome thing,”

from the GNU version of the Collaborative International Dictionary of English.

  • adjective Scotch Frightful; causing fear.
  • adjective Easily frightened; timid; timorous.

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.

  • adjective frightening, especially in appearance.

from WordNet 3.0 Copyright 2006 by Princeton University. All rights reserved.

  • adjective causing fear or dread or terror

Etymologies

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Examples

  • WEINSTEIN: Well, politics is part of what I call the fearsome foursome -- sex, money, religion and politics.

    CNN Transcript Aug 20, 2008 2008

  • Cthulhu is gonna be really pissed when he finds out they called his fearsome snoring "The Bloop".

    Popular Posts Across MetaFilter blahblahblah 2010

  • I don’t always agree with Microsoft (Dare works at MS), and of course I’m scared of them, but I’m scared of Google too and at one point Tim’s employer threw its weight around in fearsome ways, but come on, keep the personal attacks out of it.

    Scripting News for 6/11/2007 « Scripting News Annex 2007

  • You seem to be knee-deep in what my aunt calls the fearsome fours.

    Has anyone missed me? appleleaf 2008

  • The boxer once known as fearsome Iron Mike showed more than rust last night.

    CNN Transcript Jul 31, 2004 2004

  • Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov, who is known as the fearsome face of his country's new aggressive foreign policy, has irked his British counterpart David Miliband with a tirade of four-letter abuse when the duo discussed about Georgia, a British newspaper reported Friday.

    India eNews 2008

  • Matai Shang rose and, leaning over the edge of the balcony, gave voice to the weird call that I had heard from the lips of the priests upon the tiny balcony upon the face of the Golden Cliffs overlooking the Valley Dor, when, in times past, they called the fearsome white apes and the hideous plant men to the feast of victims floating down the broad bosom of the mysterious Iss toward the silian-infested waters of the Lost Sea of Korus.

    The Warlord of Mars 1913

  • Matai Shang rose and, leaning over the edge of the balcony, gave voice to the weird call that I had heard from the lips of the priests upon the tiny balcony upon the face of the Golden Cliffs overlooking the Valley Dor, when, in times past, they called the fearsome white apes and the hideous plant men to the feast of victims floating down the broad bosom of the mysterious Iss toward the silian-infested waters of the Lost Sea of Korus.

    Warlord of Mars Edgar Rice Burroughs 1912

  • A kind of fearsome icy-scary tough young girl with the temper of a thousand firey dragons, brash bravery of a hundred newbie privates and the unstoppable, unbendable will of time.

    Auditions are underway 2009

  • Unfortunately the beauteous Dawn's unannounced visit to the protagonists law offices coincides with the arrival of one of their "fearsome" clients, Sodd a bit of a bog-monster, and the frightened model faints dead away.

    Retro-View: Wolff & Byrd, Counselors of the Macabre #5 Chuck Wells 2009

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