different between horrific vs fearful

English

Alternative forms

• horrifick (obsolete)

Etymology

Borrowed from Latin horrificus, from horre? (“to be afraid”) + -fic? (“to make”).

Pronunciation

• (General American) IPA^(key): /h????f?k/, /h????f?k/, /h????f?k/
• (Received Pronunciation) IPA^(key): /h????f?k/, /h????f?k/
• (General New Zealand) IPA^(key): /h????f?k/, /h????f?k/
• Rhymes: -?f?k

Adjective

horrific (comparative more horrific, superlative most horrific)

1. Horrifying, causing horror; horrible.

   Synonyms: see Thesaurus:frightening

Usage notes

• Like many terms that start with a non-silent h but have emphasis on their second syllable, some people precede horrific with an, others with a.

Related terms

• horrible
• horrifical
• horrification
• horrify
• horror
• horrendous

Translations

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