Fearing

Part of speech: verb

Definitions

1. Experiencing a profound sense of terror regarding impending dangers
2. Manifesting a deep-seated unease or concern about possible adverse situations
3. Feeling a strong sense of anxiety due to anticipated harm or danger

Etymology: The modern verb "fear" once meant something closer to "danger" than to a feeling. Its noun ancestor, Old English "fǣr," meant "calamity, sudden danger, peril, sudden attack, terrible sight," and it is cognate with German "Gefahr" and Swedish "fara," both still meaning "danger." The sense of inner dread came later, as the thing feared shifted into the person who feels it. The verb itself grew from that noun, appearing in Middle English as "feren," from Old English "fǣran," meaning "to frighten." The word also has a surprising relative. Latin "perīculum," meaning "danger" or "trial," gave English "peril," so "fear" and "peril" are doublets, two English words descended from the same ancestor by different routes. Both trace back to a Proto-Indo-European root meaning "to go through" or "try," which hints that danger was originally something one experienced by passing through it. A separate, unrelated Old English adjective, "fēre," meaning "able to go" or "fit for service," is also in the family's history, though it did not produce the modern verb.

Synonyms: dreading, worrying, apprehending

Antonyms: braving, facing, confronting, embracing