different between fearful vs redoubtable

English

Alternative forms

• fearefull (obsolete)
• fearfull (obsolete)

Etymology

From Middle English ferful, fervol, equivalent to fear +? -ful.

Pronunciation

• (Received Pronunciation) IPA^(key): /?f??f?l/
• (General American) IPA^(key): /?f??f?l/
• Rhymes: -???f?l
• Hyphenation: fear?ful

Adjective

fearful (comparative fearfuller or fearfuler or more fearful, superlative fearfullest or fearfulest or most fearful)

1. Frightening.
2. Tending to fear; timid.

   a fearful boy

3. (dated) Terrible; shockingly bad.
4. (now rare) Frightened; filled with terror.
   • 1590, Edmund Spenser, The Faerie Queene, III.4:

     Those two great champions did attonce pursew / The fearefull damzell with incessant payns […]

Synonyms

• (frightened): frightened, timid, timorous
• See also Thesaurus:afraid and Thesaurus:cowardly

Translations

Adverb

fearful (comparative more fearful, superlative most fearful)

1. (dialect) Extremely; fearfully.

Further reading

• fearful in Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary, G. & C. Merriam, 1913.
• fearful in The Century Dictionary, New York, N.Y.: The Century Co., 1911.

Anagrams

• Lauffer

English

Etymology

Borrowed from French redoutable (spelled redoubtable in early modern French).

Pronunciation

• (US) IPA^(key): /???da?t?b?l/

Adjective

redoubtable (comparative more redoubtable, superlative most redoubtable)

1. Eliciting respect or fear; imposing; awe-inspiring.

   The redoubtable New York Times has been called the "newspaper of record" of the United States.

2. (obsolete) Valiant.

Derived terms

Translations

French

Adjective

redoubtable (plural redoubtables)

1. Archaic spelling of redoutable.

Middle French

Adjective

redoubtable m or f (plural redoubtables)

1. fearsome

Descendants

• French: redoutable