different between fearful vs tremulous

English

Alternative forms

• fearefull (obsolete)
• fearfull (obsolete)

Etymology

From Middle English ferful, fervol, equivalent to fear +? -ful.

Pronunciation

• (Received Pronunciation) IPA^(key): /?f??f?l/
• (General American) IPA^(key): /?f??f?l/
• Rhymes: -???f?l
• Hyphenation: fear?ful

Adjective

fearful (comparative fearfuller or fearfuler or more fearful, superlative fearfullest or fearfulest or most fearful)

1. Frightening.
2. Tending to fear; timid.

   a fearful boy

3. (dated) Terrible; shockingly bad.
4. (now rare) Frightened; filled with terror.
   • 1590, Edmund Spenser, The Faerie Queene, III.4:

     Those two great champions did attonce pursew / The fearefull damzell with incessant payns […]

Synonyms

• (frightened): frightened, timid, timorous
• See also Thesaurus:afraid and Thesaurus:cowardly

Translations

Adverb

fearful (comparative more fearful, superlative most fearful)

1. (dialect) Extremely; fearfully.

Further reading

• fearful in Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary, G. & C. Merriam, 1913.
• fearful in The Century Dictionary, New York, N.Y.: The Century Co., 1911.

Anagrams

• Lauffer

English

Etymology

From Latin tremulus, from trem? (“I shake”). Cognate to Ancient Greek ????? (trém?).

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /?t??mjul?s/

Adjective

tremulous (comparative more tremulous, superlative most tremulous)

1. Trembling, quivering, or shaking.
2. Timid, hesitant; lacking confidence.
   • 2009 Oct. 7, Christopher Kimball, "Opinion: Gourmet to All That," New York Times (retrieved 18 Aug 2012):

     This, hard on the heels of the death of Julia Child in 2004, makes one tremulous about the future.

Synonyms

• (trembling, quivering, or shaking): quaking, shaking, trembling, tremulant
• (timid, hesitant, or unconfident): timid, wavering

Related terms

• tremble
• tremor

Translations