A strong, unpleasant feeling caused by the belief that something is dangerous, painful, or threatening. As a verb, it means to be afraid of something.
From Old English “fǣr” meaning “danger, sudden calamity,” which later shifted to mean the feeling caused by danger. The emotional sense became stronger than the external event.
Originally, the word leaned more toward the danger itself than the emotion. Today, we often feel fear even when there’s no real “fǣr” around—showing how our brains can treat thoughts as if they were physical threats.
Complete word intelligence in one call. Free tier — 50 lookups/day.