afraid
adj/əˈfɹeɪd/ · Southern-US /əˈfɹɛd/
Etymology From Middle English affrayed, affraied, past participle of afraien (“to affray”), from Anglo-Norman afrayer (“to terrify, disquiet, disturb”), from Old French effreer, esfreer (“to disturb, remove the peace from”), from es- (“out”) + freer (“to secure, secure the peace”), from Frankish *friþu (“security, peace”), from Proto-Germanic *friþuz (“peace”), from Proto-Germanic *frijōną (“to free; to love”), from Proto-Indo-European *prāy-, *prēy- (“to like, love”). By surface analysis, affray + -ed. Compare also afeard. More at free, friend.
Impressed with fear or apprehension; in fear.
- He is afraid of death.
- He is afraid to ask her out.
3 more examples
- He is afraid of the future.
- I’m not afraid of telling / to tell you the truth: I'm reluctant to go in you car because I’m too afraid of crashing.
- I went through the worst Ku Klux proposition in the country at the time it was at its height. And I had to go down to the Ku Klux meeting and tell them what I thought of them, and I wasn't afraid of them at all. And I'm not afraid of this situation because I think it'll work out in a way that when these people sit down and get a chance to think and study the situation, they're going to be ashamed of some of the things they've done.1964, Harry S. Truman, 2:28 from the start, in MP2002-77 Former President Truman Discusses Bigotry in the United States, Harry S. Truman Presidential Library and Museum, National Archives Identifier: 595162:
Regretful, sorry; expressing a reluctance to face an unpleasant situation.
- I am afraid I cannot help you in this matter.
Worried about, feeling concern for, fearing for (someone or something).
- Synonyms
- afeared, afraid, alarmed, anxious, apprehensive, chicken, concerned, creeped out, fearful, frightened, frit, horrified, mortified, panicked, scared, shocked, startled, terrified, timorous, worried, wary
- Derived terms
- afraidly, afraidness, afraid of one's own shadow, fraidy, I am afraid of this, I'm afraid, I'm afraid not, I'm afraid so, nonafraid, unafraid, unafraidly
- Hypernyms
- emotional, emotionful
- Hyponyms
- nervous, paranoid, petrified, scared half to death, scared spitless, scared shitless, scared stiff, scared to death, shit scared, spooked