afraid
adjective
Simple meaning
Filled with fear or apprehension.
Pronunciation
Say it like this:
uhfraydSay the bold part a little louder.
IPA pronunciation (US)
əfˈɹeɪd
This word is pronounced essentially the same in American and British English, so one transcription covers both.
IPA (International Phonetic Alphabet) is a standard way of writing speech sounds.
Definition
Everyday modern meanings first, grouped by part of speech.
adjective
Filled with fear or apprehension
“Afraid even to turn his head.”
Impressed with fear or apprehension; in fear.
Worried about, feeling concern for, fearing for (someone or something). [with for]
Regretful, sorry; expressing a reluctance to face an unpleasant situation.
Word at a Glance
- Difficulty
- B1 · Intermediate
- Frequency
- Common
- Typical Use
- Everyday English
Word Aura™
How this word commonly comes across.
Aura for this meaning
This meaning: Filled with fear or apprehension
Used this way, afraid is a common word with a clearly unfavourable pull. It sounds natural in ordinary conversation and in expressive writing alike.
“Afraid even to turn his head.”
- Emotional tone
- Negative
- Formality
- Neutral
- Intensity
- Moderate
- How common
- Common
- Connotation
- Serious and weighty
- Usage feel
- Everyday but emotionally strong
Word Aura describes common impressions, not a measurement. Tone changes with sentence, speaker, relationship and situation.
More ways to use afraid
- “Afraid even to turn his head.”adjective
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Dictionary data from Wiktionary via the Free Dictionary API. Simple meanings, combinations and word intelligence are built from verified reference data, no AI is used to load this page.