對還沒發生的事感到害怕
這個字的兩個詞性其實是同一個畫面的兩面：動詞是「你在做這件事」，名詞是「這件事本身」。英語裡這種動詞↔名詞的直接轉換很常見，而 dread 的名詞就是從動詞來的，所以兩邊的意思幾乎完全重疊，只差在句子裡站的位置。
fear greatly · verb · C2
To feel a strong fear or worry about something that is going to happen or that may happen.
深怕
核心畫面
One way to picture it: fear pointed forward in time — you are not afraid of something in front of you now, you are afraid of something still on its way, and the waiting itself is the feeling.
一種「朝著前方」的害怕。你不是被眼前的東西嚇到，而是心裡清楚有件事還沒發生、但正在靠近——明天的報告、下週的檢查結果…更多收起
一種「朝著前方」的害怕。你不是被眼前的東西嚇到，而是心裡清楚有件事還沒發生、但正在靠近——明天的報告、下週的檢查結果、那通還沒打的電話。那份提前開始、而且會一直懸在那裡的怕，就是 dread。它跟 fear 的差別常常在於時間感：fear 可以是當下的一驚，dread 幾乎總是拖著一段等待。From the word’s history
Old English drǣdan “to fear”, a shortened form of ondrǣdan, built from and- (“against”) + rǣdan (the same root as read, “to advise, to counsel”) — roughly “to counsel against”, which sits close to the modern feeling of anticipating something and wanting to head it off.
古英語 drǣdan（害怕），是 ondrǣdan 的縮短形，由 and-（相對、抵著）加上 rǣdan（勸告、思量；read 同源）組成，字面接近「事先想著要避開」。這條線索跟現代 dread 的「提前」感很合得來：那份怕本來就長在「事情還沒到、心裡已經在盤算」的位置上。
Wiktionary entry for “dread” (Middle English dreden < Old English drǣdan, aphetic form of ondrǣdan < and- + rǣdan)
One branch
原始詞典資料14 筆記錄
以下是外部詞典記錄的用法，原文照列，我們還沒有寫成教學內容。上面的說明才是我們自己寫的；有些用法可能上面已經講過了。
dreadverb詞源 1/dɹɛd/
- 1
To fear greatly.
- 2
To anticipate with fear.
- I'm dreading getting the results of the test, as it could decide my whole life.
- Day by day, hole by hole our bearing reins were shortened, and instead of looking forward with pleasure to having my harness put on as I used to do, I began to dread it.
- 3
To be in dread, or great fear.
- Dread not, neither be afraid of them.
- 4
To style (the hair) into dreadlocks.
dreadnoun詞源 2/dɹɛd/
- 1
Great fear in view of impending evil; fearful apprehension of danger; anticipatory terror.
- My visit to the doctor is filling me with dread.
- the secret dread of divine displeasure
- 2
Reverential or respectful fear; awe.
- The fear of you, and the dread of you, shall be upon every beast of the earth.
- His sceptre shows the force of temporal power, / The attribute to awe and majesty, / Wherein doth sit the dread and fear of kings.
- 3
Somebody or something dreaded.
- 4
obsoleteA person highly revered.
- Una, his dear dread
- 5
obsoleteFury; dreadfulness.
- The mightie ones, affrayd of every chaunges dread
- 6
A Rastafarian.
dreadadj詞源 3/dɹɛd/
- 1
Terrible; greatly feared; dreaded.
- With cat-like tread / Upon our prey we steal / In silence dread / Our cautious way we feel
- I even remember thinking that no human being would go down that dread path again.
- 2
archaicAwe-inspiring; held in fearful awe.
- The acts made in the first Parliament of our most high and dread soveraigne Charles [I], by the grace of God, King of Great Britaine, France, and Ireland, defender of the faith, &c. […] [book title]
這個拼法也被記錄為下列字的變化形：
資料來源：英文維基詞典 English Wiktionary（CC BY-SA 4.0）。 原文照列，未經改寫。