1
as in terrifying
causing fear
a dreadful hurricane
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2
as in awful
causing intense displeasure, disgust, or resentment
a dreadful performance of a beautiful piece of music
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3
as in horrific
extremely disturbing or repellent
dreadful news of a crime wave in the neighborhood
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4
as in intense
extreme in degree, power, or effect
the dreadful heat of the desert
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5
as in sheer
having no exceptions or restrictions
made a dreadful mess of his first marriage
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Examples Sentences
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Recent Examples of dreadful
Now a new warning adds a dangerous new twist to the dreadful moment your screen stops working.
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Zak Doffman, Forbes, 27 Nov. 2024
Then there's Sister Bernadette, who the Sisters rescued from a dreadful childhood, and now feels her conscience weigh on her.
—Lizz Schumer, People.com, 26 Nov. 2024
The main villain of the piece, Simba’s dreadful uncle Scar, is a superior bad guy, pensive and brooding rather than angry or shill.
—Christopher Arnott, Hartford Courant, 21 Nov. 2024
Chicago has a dreadful defense, so this is a nice opportunity for Klay to pour on the points with his new team.
21+ and present in participating states.
—Thomas G. Moukawsher, Newsweek, 6 Nov. 2024
See all Example Sentences for dreadful 
Zak Doffman, Forbes, 27 Nov. 2024
Then there's Sister Bernadette, who the Sisters rescued from a dreadful childhood, and now feels her conscience weigh on her.
—Lizz Schumer, People.com, 26 Nov. 2024
The main villain of the piece, Simba’s dreadful uncle Scar, is a superior bad guy, pensive and brooding rather than angry or shill.
—Christopher Arnott, Hartford Courant, 21 Nov. 2024
Chicago has a dreadful defense, so this is a nice opportunity for Klay to pour on the points with his new team.
21+ and present in participating states.
—Thomas G. Moukawsher, Newsweek, 6 Nov. 2024
See all Example Sentences for dreadful
Recent Examples of Synonyms for dreadful
Adjective
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The paranormal phenomena spooking Spongebob and Squidward has a mundane explanation, but the entity flickering the lights turns out to be none other than Nosferatu, who reassures them with a terrifying smile; amusingly, Spongebob and Squidward are relieved to see him.Dani Di Placido, Forbes, 13 Dec. 2024
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In the early hours of New Year's Day 2021 in Canton, Georgia, Morgan Metzer was awakened to a terrifying sight.Michael Loftus, CBS News, 13 Dec. 2024
Adjective
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As a unit, the Bengals defense has been awful, only scoring four PPG, which is the 4th least in the NFL.Steve Bradshaw, Forbes, 10 Dec. 2024
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But even if the company succeeds, internet users have a way of pushing the boundaries of new tools like this until every possible awful output has been demonstrated.Scott Rosenberg, Axios, 10 Dec. 2024
Adjective
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Eric Gordon was also supposed to provide some secondary ball-handling off the bench in theory, but the soon-to-be 36-year-old is off to a horrific start this season.Bryan Toporek, Forbes, 16 Dec. 2024
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Former detainees at the horrific Saydnaya prison near Damascus said Amer had disappeared in mid-April 2015 after being tortured there.Raja Razek, CNN, 16 Dec. 2024
Adjective
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The warm front is a sharp contrast to the close of last week when an arctic surge swept across the Northeast and Mid-Atlantic with snow squalls, whiteouts and intense bursts of wind that left 20 million Americans under winter weather warnings or advisories.Susan Miller, USA TODAY, 9 Dec. 2024
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Becoming a professor requires years and years of intense study, often carried out in isolation and poverty.Ian Bogost, The Atlantic, 8 Dec. 2024
Adjective
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Working in this season's favor was the sheer unpredictability from week to week in terms of who was aligned with whom and what would happen at Tribal Council.Dalton Ross, EW.com, 12 Dec. 2024
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Yet the sheer volume of healthcare data is nearly incomprehensible.Premier Contributor, Forbes, 11 Dec. 2024
Adjective
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Although there is high demand among students for internships and other work opportunities, our education-employer ecosystem is doing a horrible job delivering them.Brandon Busteed, Forbes, 14 Dec. 2024
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Everyone is forgetting conveniently about October 7, but that was a horrible day for the world, not for Israel, for the world.TIME Staff, TIME, 12 Dec. 2024
Adjective
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For many people, finding the perfect ugly Christmas sweater is an annual tradition.Shea Simmons, People.com, 12 Dec. 2024
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In a Hungarian cartoon from around 1951, Churchill is seen as an ugly villain, ready to set households and factories on fire.Ella Feldman, Smithsonian Magazine, 12 Dec. 2024
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Prehistoric Rock Art Sites Created 'Multisensory Experience' For Hunter-Gatherers By Aristos Georgiou Science and Health Reporter 0 A collection of prehistoric human remains has revealed gruesome insights into a brutal massacre that took place more than 4,000 years ago.Raja Krishnamoorthi, Newsweek, 16 Dec. 2024
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Police think the gruesome gunshot death is suicide.Bryan Alexander, USA TODAY, 16 Dec. 2024
Thesaurus Entries Near dreadful
Cite this Entry
“Dreadful.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/dreadful. Accessed 22 Dec. 2024.
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