fearsome

adjectiveattested in dialogue

United Kingdom//ˈfɪːsəm//
United Kingdom//ˈfɪjəsəm//
United States//ˈfɪɹsəm//
Australia//ˈfɪəsəm//
New Zealand//ˈfiəsəm//

Frightening, especially in appearance.

adjective

1
Frightening, especially in appearance.
fearsome reputation
fearsome weapon
truly fearsome
The warriors faced a fearsome enemy.
2
archaicfearful, frightened

Etymology

Etymology tree English fear Proto-Indo-European *sem- Proto-Indo-European *somHós Proto-Germanic *samaz Proto-Germanic *-samaz Proto-West Germanic *-sam Old English -sum Middle English -som English -some English fearsome From fear + -some. Compare German furchtsam (“fearful”, obsolete also “fearsome”); this is more closely equivalent to English frightsome, however.

Forms

comparative: more fearsome
superlative: most fearsome

Fearing · A surname.fearless · Without fear.Fears · A surname.

fearsome · Frightening, especially in appearance.

feast · A holiday, festival, especially a religious one Feast · A surname from Middle English.feat · A relatively rare or difficult accomplishment.

The neighbouring pages — Alphabetical order follows the rules of the language, not byte values: an accent decides only between two otherwise identical words, and Spanish files Ñ as a letter of its own.