Meanings
- idiomaticIn order to attempt to prevent the risk of (a particular incident or event occurring).
[...] but in the damp conditions prevailing the driver sensibly was unwilling to attempt the climb up through Combe Down tunnel without help, for fear of slipping to a standstill in the unventilated bore, [...].
1960 March, “Motive Power Miscellany: Western Region”, in Trains Illustrated, page 1841 more example
‘Then the father has a great fight with his terrible conscience,’ said Munday with granite seriousness. ‘Should he make a row with the police[…]? Or should he say nothing about it and condone brutality for fear of appearing in the newspapers?’
1963, Margery Allingham, chapter 18, in The China Governess: A Mystery, London: Chatto & Windus, →OCLC
Translations
Esperanto timante
- timanteattempting to prevent the risk of an event
Irish ar eagla
- ar eaglaattempting to prevent the risk of an event
Cite this entry
for fear of. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 4, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/for%20fear%20of
“for fear of.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/for%20fear%20of. Accessed November 4, 2026.
WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “for fear of,” accessed November 4, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/for%20fear%20of.
Source: for fear of on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.