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PlainSpell

dread

/dɹɛd/verb, noun, adjective

dread is spelled D-R-E-A-D: 5 letters and one syllable. It appears 4.4 times per million words in written English, the 12,216th most frequent word form (wordfreq, 2021 data). As a verb, dread means “To fear greatly” (English Wiktionary, September 2026).

How many letters and syllables are in dread?

Letters5: D-R-E-A-D
Syllables1 (from its American pronunciation)
In writing4.4 times per million words; the 12,216th most frequent word form
Wrong spellings searchednone measured in search
Same letters

Sources: letters and syllables from the English Wiktionary's hyphenation or pronunciation and the CMU Pronouncing Dictionary; written frequency: wordfreq 3.1 (a 2021 snapshot of Wikipedia, subtitles, news, books, web text and social media); rhymes and same-letter words are computed by PlainSpell from its own word list.

How common is dread?

Dread appears 4.4 times per million words in written English, the 12,216th most frequent word form in the list.

Source: written frequency: wordfreq 3.1 (a 2021 snapshot of Wikipedia, subtitles, news, books, web text and social media).

How do you pronounce dread?

  • /dɹɛd/

Dread has one syllable (counted from its American pronunciation in the CMU Pronouncing Dictionary).

Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract). Recordings: En-us-dread.ogg, Wikimedia Commons (author and licence on each file's page).

What rhymes with dread?

No other word on PlainSpell ends in the same sounds as dread.

Spelled with the same letters in another order: adder.

Computed by PlainSpell from the pronunciations in the English Wiktionary (dump of September 2, 2026): a rhyme shares every sound from the last stressed vowel to the end; ordered by written frequency (wordfreq 3.1).

Forms of dread

  • dreads present, singular, he/she/it, plural
  • dreading participle, present
  • dreaded participle, past
  • dreader comparative
  • dreadest superlative

Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).

What does dread mean?

The meanings the English Wiktionary records, quoted as written there (source below).

verb

  1. 1

    To fear greatly.

  2. 2

    To anticipate with fear.

    I'm dreading getting the results of the test, as it could decide my whole life.

  3. 3

    To be in dread, or great fear.

  4. 4

    To style (the hair) into dreadlocks.

noun

  1. 1

    Great fear in view of impending evil; fearful apprehension of danger; anticipatory terror.

    My visit to the doctor is filling me with dread.

  2. 2

    Reverential or respectful fear; awe.

  3. 3

    Somebody or something dreaded.

  4. 4

    obsoleteA person highly revered.

  5. 5

    obsoleteFury; dreadfulness.

  6. 6

    A Rastafarian.

  7. 7

    slangClipping of dreadlock.

  8. 8

    slangClipping of dreadnought.

    The Royal Navy sent six dreads and four BCs to intercept the German raiding force.

adjective

  1. 1

    Terrible; greatly feared; dreaded.

  2. 2

    archaicAwe-inspiring; held in fearful awe.

Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).

Dread in Spanish, French, German and Portuguese

LanguageWords
Frenchredouter, craindre (to fear greatly so./sth), crainte (great fear in view of impending evil)
Germanschaudern, grauen (to fear greatly so./sth), gruseln, grausen, eine Gänsehaut bekommen / kriegen, Blut und Wasser schwitzen (to anticipate with fear (that ...))
Portuguesetemer (to fear greatly so./sth), temor, terror (great fear in view of impending evil), terrível (somebody or something dreaded)
Spanishtemer (to fear greatly so./sth), pavor, temor, miedo (great fear in view of impending evil), empavorecer, despavorir (to anticipate with fear (that ...))

Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract). Translations are Wiktionary's, by sense; a linked word has its own PlainSpell page.

Where does dread come from?

From Middle English dreden, from Old English drǣdan (“to fear, dread”), aphetic form of ondrǣdan (“to fear, dread”), from Proto-West Germanic *andarādan, equivalent to Old English and- + rǣdan (whence read); corresponding to an aphesis of earlier adread. Akin to Old Saxon antdrādan, andrādan (“to fear, dread”), Old High German intrātan (“to fear”), Middle High German entrāten (“to fear, dread, frighten”).

Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).

What to look up after dread