fearsome

fear·some
F4E1A1R1S1O1M3E1
Australia, UK/ˈfɪəsəm/British, Southern, Standard/ˈfɪːsəm/British, Southern, Standard/ˈfɪjəsəm/US/ˈfɪɹsəm/

adjective

Frightening, especially in appearance.

“truly fearsome”

Similar
awfuldiredirefuldreaddreadeddreadfulfearfulfrightening
OriginProto-Germanic *samaz ← Proto-Indo-European *somHós ← English fear →
Less commonScrabble 13
Ask AI about this wordChatGPTClaudePerplexityGoogle AIGrok

Meanings

adjectivefearsome (comparative more fearsome, superlative most fearsome)

comparative more fearsome · superlative most fearsome

  1. Frightening, especially in appearance.

    truly fearsome

    5 more examples

    fearsome reputation

    fearsome weapon

    The warriors faced a fearsome enemy.

    She gave him a fearsome glare.

    The dire wolf, Aenocyon dirus, which was the inspiration for the fearsome canine featured in the HBO TV series “Game of Thrones,” was a top predator that once roamed North America. (HBO shares parent company Warner Bros. Discovery with CNN.)

    2025 April 7, Katie Hunt, “Scientists say they have resurrected the dire wolf”, in CNN, archived from the original on 27 Apr 2025
  2. archaicrarefearful, frightened

Synonyms & antonyms

adjectivecausing fear or dread or terror

Similar
awfuldiredirefuldreaddreadeddreadfulfearfulfrighteninghorrendoushorrificterriblealarming
Also see
awfuldiredirefuldreaddreadeddreadfulfearfulfrighteninghorrendoushorrificterrible

Synonym sets from Open English WordNet, CC BY 4.0.

Origin

  1. Englishfear
  2. Proto-Indo-European*sem-
  3. Proto-Indo-European*somHós
  4. Proto-Germanic*samaz
  5. Englishfearsome

From fear + -some. Compare German furchtsam (“fearful”, obsolete also “fearsome”); this is more closely equivalent to English frightsome, however.

Full word history & related roots →

Translations

Bulgarian страшен, страховит
  • страшен (strašen)frightening, especially in appearance
  • страховит (strahovit)frightening, especially in appearance
Catalan temible
  • temiblefrightening, especially in appearance
Chinese Mandarin 可怕的
  • 可怕的frightening, especially in appearance
Finnish pelottava
  • pelottavafrightening, especially in appearance
French effroyable, effrayant
  • effroyablefrightening, especially in appearance
  • effrayantfrightening, especially in appearance
German fürchterlich, furchterregend
  • fürchterlichfrightening, especially in appearance
  • furchterregendfrightening, especially in appearance
Irish scanrúil
  • scanrúilfrightening, especially in appearance
Māori wewehi, wehiwehi
  • wewehifrightening, especially in appearance
  • wehiwehifrightening, especially in appearance
Polish straszny
  • strasznyfrightening, especially in appearance
Portuguese temível
  • temívelfrightening, especially in appearance
Russian страшный, грозный
  • страшный (strašnyj)frightening, especially in appearance
  • грозный (groznyj)frightening, especially in appearance
Spanish temible
  • temiblefrightening, especially in appearance
Swedish skräckinjagande
  • skräckinjagandefrightening, especially in appearance
Cite this entry
APA

fearsome. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 3, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/fearsome

MLA

“fearsome.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/fearsome. Accessed November 3, 2026.

Chicago

WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “fearsome,” accessed November 3, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/fearsome.

Source: fearsome on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.