dreadful
Americanadjective
noun
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a periodical given to highly sensational matter.
adjective
-
extremely disagreeable, shocking, or bad
what a dreadful play
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(intensifier)
this is a dreadful waste of time
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causing dread; terrifying
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archaic inspiring awe
Usage
What does dreadful mean? Dreadful most commonly means extremely bad, unpleasant, or ugly.Less commonly, it can also mean causing great fear or terror, which makes sense because dreadful is the adjective form of the noun dread, meaning fear.Dreadful can also be used as an intensifier (a word that makes the meaning of the word it modifies more intense) in much the same way that awful can, as in You took a dreadful long time getting time. In cases like this, neither awful nor dreadful mean bad, but they are typically used in negative situations as opposed to positive ones.Dreadful can also be used in a more specific way as a shortened form of the term penny dreadful, the name for inexpensive illustrated books featuring violent action that were popular in Britain during the mid- and late-1800s.Example: My throat hurts, my head’s pounding, I’ve got the chills—I feel absolutely dreadful.
Other Word Forms
- dreadfulness noun
- quasi-dreadful adjective
- quasi-dreadfully adverb
Etymology
Origin of dreadful
First recorded in 1175–1225, dreadful is from the Middle English word dredful. See dread, -ful
Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
The Academy has been jonesing so hard to hand the man an Oscar that it nominated the dreadful “Licorice Pizza” a couple of years ago.
From Salon • Mar. 13, 2026
This confusion causes two sets of dreadful consequences.
From Slate • Mar. 13, 2026
It would be possible to convey the essence of “The Life and Death of Peter Sellers,” by Roger Lewis, in a single sentence: Peter Sellers was a dreadful human being.
From The Wall Street Journal • Mar. 12, 2026
The dreadful conditions in Crans Montana and two other crashes led to the race being stopped after just six competitors attempted to find their way down the piste.
From Barron's • Feb. 3, 2026
“I apologize for not coming these past few nights. I had a dreadful bout of nausea and couldn’t leave my den. I hope I didn’t cause you to worry.”
From "Healer of the Water Monster" by Brian Young
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.