different between dread vs qualm

English

Etymology

From Middle English dreden, from Old English dr?dan (“to fear, dread”), aphetic form of ondr?dan (“to fear, dread”), from and- +? r?dan (whence read); corresponding to an aphesis of earlier adread.

Akin to Old Saxon antdr?dan, andr?dan (“to fear, dread”), Old High German intr?tan (“to fear”), Middle High German entr?ten (“to fear, dread, frighten”).

Pronunciation

• enPR: dr?d, IPA^(key): /d??d/
• Rhymes: -?d

Verb

dread (third-person singular simple present dreads, present participle dreading, simple past and past participle dreaded)

1. (transitive) To fear greatly.
2. To anticipate with fear.
   • 1877, Anna Sewell, Black Beauty Chapter 22[1]

     Day by day, hole by hole our bearing reins were shortened, and instead of looking forward with pleasure to having my harness put on as I used to do, I began to dread it.

3. (intransitive) To be in dread, or great fear.

   • Dread not, neither be afraid of them.

4. (transitive) To style (the hair) into dreadlocks.

Derived terms

• dreadable
• dreadly
• dreadworthy

Translations

Noun

dread (countable and uncountable, plural dreads)

1. Great fear in view of impending evil; fearful apprehension of danger; anticipatory terror.
   • a. 1694, John Tillotson, The Advantages of Religion to particular Persons

     the secret dread of divine displeasure
2. Reverential or respectful fear; awe.

   • The fear of you, and the dread of you, shall be upon every beast of the earth.
3. Somebody or something dreaded.
4. (obsolete) A person highly revered.
   • 1590, Edmund Spenser, Faerie Queene

     Una, his dear dread

5. (obsolete) Fury; dreadfulness.
6. A Rastafarian.
7. (chiefly in the plural) dreadlock

Derived terms

• dreaden
• dreadful
• dreadless
• dreadsome

Translations

Adjective

dread (comparative dreader, superlative dreadest)

1. Terrible; greatly feared; dreaded.
2. (archaic) Awe-inspiring; held in fearful awe.

Derived terms

• dreadly

Translations

See also

• dreadlocks
• dreadnought

Anagrams

• adder, dared, radde, re-add, readd

Portuguese

Alternative forms

• dreads

Noun

dread m (plural dreads)

1. Clipping of dreadlock.

English

Alternative forms

• calm (dialectal)

Etymology

Perhaps from Middle English qualm, cwalm (“death, sickness, plague”), which is from Old English cwealm (West Saxon: "death, disaster, plague"), ?tcualm (Anglian: "utter destruction"), from Proto-West Germanic *kwalm (“killing, death, destruction”), from Proto-Indo-European *g?elH- (“to stick, pierce; pain, injury, death”), whence also quell. Although the sense development is possible, this has the problem that there are no attestations in intermediate senses before the appearance of "pang of apprehension, etc." in the 16th century. The alternative etymology is from Dutch kwalm or German Qualm "steam, vapor, mist," earlier "daze, stupefaction", which is from the root of German quellen (“to stream, well up”). The sense "feeling of faintness" is from 1530; "uneasiness, doubt" from 1553; "scruple of conscience" from 1649.

Pronunciation

• (General American) IPA^(key): /kw?m/, /kw?m/, /kw?lm/
• (Received Pronunciation) IPA^(key): /kw??m/, /kw??m/

Noun

qualm (plural qualms)

1. A feeling of apprehension, doubt, fear etc. [from 16th c.]
2. A sudden sickly feeling; queasiness. [from 16th c.]
3. A prick of the conscience; a moral scruple, a pang of guilt. (Now often in negative constructions.) [from 17th c.]

4. (archaic, Britain dialectal) Mortality; plague; pestilence.
5. (archaic, Britain dialectal) A calamity or disaster.

Synonyms

• compunction
• misgiving
• scruple
• unease/uneasiness
• See Thesaurus:apprehension

Derived terms

Related terms

Translations

Verb

qualm (third-person singular simple present qualms, present participle qualming, simple past and past participle qualmed)

1. (intransitive) To have a sickly feeling.

References

• Douglas Harper (2001–2021) , “qualm”, in Online Etymology Dictionary

Middle English

Alternative forms

• cwalm, cualm, qwalm, qualme

Etymology

From Old English cwealm, from Proto-West Germanic *kwalm.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /kwalm/

Noun

qualm

1. Plague, disease or sickness; that which afflicts.
2. The effects, fruits, or ravages of plague.
3. (rare) Killing (as a concept or as an instance)

Descendants

• English: qualm (possibly)
• Scots: qualm (possibly)

References

• “qualm, n.(1).”, in MED Online, Ann Arbor, Mich.: University of Michigan, 2007, retrieved 2018-11-12.