different between dreadful vs poor

English

Alternative forms

• dreadfull
• dredful (obsolete)

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /?d??d.f?l/

Etymology

From Middle English dredful, dredfull, dredeful (also dreful), equivalent to dread +? -ful.

Adjective

dreadful (comparative more dreadful, superlative most dreadful)

1. Full of something causing dread, whether
   1. Genuinely horrific, awful, or alarming; dangerous, risky.
      • 1900, L. Frank Baum, The Wonderful Wizard of Oz, Chapter 23:

        "...Aunt Em will surely think something dreadful has happened to me, and that will make her put on mourning..."

   2. (hyperbolic) Unpleasant, awful, very bad (also used as an intensifier).
      • 1682, T. Creech's translation of Lucretius, De Natura Rerum, Book II, 52:

        Here some... Look dreadful gay in their own sparkling blood.
   3. (obsolete) Awesome, awe-inspiring, causing feelings of reverence.
2. (obsolete) Full of dread, whether
   1. Scared, afraid, frightened.
   2. Timid, easily frightened.
   3. Reverential, full of pious awe.

Adverb

dreadful (comparative more dreadful, superlative most dreadful)

1. (informal) Dreadfully.

Usage notes

The senses of "dreadful" synonymous with "afraid" similarly use the infinitive or the preposition "of": they were dreadful to build or the boy was dreadful of his majesty. These senses are, however, now obsolete.

When used as an intensifier, "dreadful" is actually a form of the adverb "dreadfully" and thus considered informal or vulgar.

Synonyms

• See Thesaurus:frightening
• See Thesaurus:bad

Derived terms

• dreadfully
• dreadfulness

Translations

Noun

dreadful (plural dreadfuls)

1. A shocker: a report of a crime written in a provokingly lurid style.
2. A journal or broadsheet printing such reports.
3. A shocking or sensational crime.

Derived terms

• penny dreadful

Further reading

• Oxford English Dictionary, 1884–1928, and First Supplement, 1933.

English

Etymology

From Middle English povre, povere, from Old French (and Anglo-Norman) povre, poure (Modern French pauvre), from Latin pauper (English pauper), from Old Latin *pavo-pars (literally “getting little”), from Proto-Indo-European *peh?w- (“few, small”). Cognate with Old English f?awa (“little, few”). Doublet of pauper.

Displaced native Middle English earm, arm (“poor”) (from Old English earm; See arm), Middle English wantsum, wantsome (“poor, needy”) (from Old Norse vant (“deficiency, lack, want”)), Middle English unlede (“poor”) (from Old English unl?de), Middle English unweli, unwely (“poor, unwealthy”) (from Old English un- + weli? (“well-to-do, prosperous, rich”).

Pronunciation

• (General Australian, General New Zealand) IPA^(key): /po?/
• (Canada) IPA^(key): /p??/, /pu?/, /p??/
• (Indian English) IPA^(key): /?p?(?)?(r)/
• (Received Pronunciation)
  • IPA^(key): /p??(?)/, /p??(?)/
• (US)
  • IPA^(key): /p??/, /p??/
• Rhymes: -??(?), -??(?)
• Homophones: pour, pore (with the pour-poor merger)
• Homophone: paw (in some non-rhotic accents, with the pour-poor merger)

Adjective

poor (comparative poorer, superlative poorest)

1. With no or few possessions or money, particularly in relation to contemporaries who do have them.

   The poor are always with us.

2. Of low quality.
3. Used to express pity.

   • Thanks to that penny he had just spent so recklessly [on a newspaper] he would pass a happy hour, taken, for once, out of his anxious, despondent, miserable self. It irritated him shrewdly to know that these moments of respite from carking care would not be shared with his poor wife, with careworn, troubled Ellen.
4. Deficient in a specified way.

5. Inadequate, insufficient.
   • a. 1686, Benjamin Calamy, Sermon 1

     That I have wronged no Man, will be a poor plea or apology at the last day.

6. Free from self-assertion; not proud or arrogant; meek.

   • Blessed are the poor in spirit.

Usage notes

When the word "poor" is used to express pity, it does not change the meaning of the sentence. For example, in the sentence "Give this soup to that poor man!", the word "poor" does not serve to indicate which man is meant (and so the sentence expresses exactly the same command as "Give this soup to that man!"). Instead, the word "poor" merely adds an expression of pity to the sentence.

Synonyms

• (with no or few possessions or money): See Thesaurus:impoverished
• (of low quality): inferior
• (to be pitied): pitiable, arm

Antonyms

• (with no or few possessions): rich, wealthy
• (of low quality): good
• (deficient in a specified way): rich
• (inadequate): adequate

Hyponyms

Derived terms

• deserving poor
• poorhouse
• undeserving poor

Related terms

Translations

Anagrams

• poro-, roop

Limburgish

Etymology

From Walloon porea.

Noun

poor m

1. leek

Old French

Noun

poor f (oblique plural poors, nominative singular poor, nominative plural poors)

1. fear