Standard Lemma guide

fearsome

adj · 3 senses · updated from the 2026-07-25 local source snapshot

Definitions and examples are grouped by meaning. Pronunciation, history, word forms, translations, descendants, synonyms, antonyms, derived terms, and related words appear whenever the source provides them.

Sound

Pronunciation

Each Play button uses your device's default local English voice, or a natural local fallback. The selected voice name appears after playback. This is synthesized speech, not a source recording.

  • Australia, Received-Pronunciation: /ˈfɪəsəm/
  • British, Southern, Standard: /ˈfɪːsəm/
  • British, Southern, Standard: /ˈfɪjəsəm/
  • Southern-England: Recorded audio is listed in the source snapshot.
  • US: /ˈfɪɹsəm/
  • New-Zealand: /ˈfiəsəm/
  • Scotland: /ˈfiɾsəm/
  • Scotland: [ˈfiːɾsəm]
  • rhymes with -ɪə(ɹ)səm
  • CMU ARPABET: F IH1 R S AH0 M Digits mark lexical stress: 1 primary, 2 secondary, 0 unstressed.

1

adj

Meaning 1

frightening, especially in appearance.

Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract

Examples

  • fearsome reputation
  • fearsome weapon
  • truly fearsome
  • The warriors faced a fearsome enemy.
  • She gave him a fearsome glare.

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: none provided

Antonyms: none provided

2

adj

Meaning 2

fearful, frightened

Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract

Usage: archaic, rare

No example sentence was provided for this meaning.

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: none provided

Antonyms: none provided

3

adjective satellite

Meaning 3

causing fear or dread or terror

Definition source: Princeton WordNet 3.0

Examples

  • the awful war
  • an awful risk
  • dire news
  • a career or vengeance so direful that London was shocked
  • the dread presence of the headmaster
  • polio is no longer the dreaded disease it once was
  • a dreadful storm
  • a fearful howling
  • horrendous explosions shook the city
  • a terrible curse

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: awful, dire, direful, dread(a), dreaded, dreadful, fearful, frightening, horrendous, horrific, terrible

Antonyms: none provided

History

Etymology

From fear + -some. Compare German furchtsam (“fearful”, obsolete also “fearsome”); this is more closely equivalent to English frightsome, however.

Across languages

Translations

23 source translations are retained for this English entry.

  • Bulgarian: страшен (strašen) — frightening, especially in appearance
  • Bulgarian: страховит (strahovit) — frightening, especially in appearance
  • Catalan: temible — frightening, especially in appearance
  • Chinese Mandarin: 可怕的 — frightening, especially in appearance
  • Finnish: pelottava — frightening, especially in appearance
  • French: effroyable — frightening, especially in appearance
  • French: effrayant — frightening, especially in appearance
  • Georgian: საშინელი (sašineli) — frightening, especially in appearance
  • Georgian: შემაშინებელი (šemašinebeli) — frightening, especially in appearance
  • German: fürchterlich — frightening, especially in appearance
  • German: furchterregend — frightening, especially in appearance
  • Irish: scanrúil — frightening, especially in appearance
  • Malayalam: ഭയാനക (bhayānaka) — frightening, especially in appearance
  • Māori: wewehi — frightening, especially in appearance
  • Māori: wehiwehi — frightening, especially in appearance
  • Plautdietsch: forchtsom — frightening, especially in appearance
  • Polish: straszny — frightening, especially in appearance
  • Portuguese: temível — frightening, especially in appearance
  • Russian: страшный (strašnyj) — frightening, especially in appearance
  • Russian: грозный (groznyj) — frightening, especially in appearance
  • Serbo-Croatian: zastràšujūćī — frightening, especially in appearance
  • Spanish: temible — frightening, especially in appearance
  • Swedish: skräckinjagande — frightening, especially in appearance
Real reading context

fearsome in complete knowledge articles

The Elder Scrolls Travels: Stormhold Everyday life · Developing · 1 uses