Betekenis van fear In het Nederlands

• 0 an unpleasant emotion or thought that you have when you are frightened or worried by something dangerous, painful, or bad that is happening or might happen:

  • Trembling with fear, she handed over the money to the gunman.

  • Even when the waves grew big, the boy showed no (signs of) fear.

  • I have a fear of heights.

  • The low profit figures simply confirmed my worst fears.

  • [ + that ] There are fears that the disease will spread to other countries.

  • Lakisha sat inside, in fear of her life, until the police came.

  • Greta knows the city well, so there's no fear of us getting lost (= we will not get lost).

  • They wouldn't let their cat outside for fear (that) it would get run over.

  • I didn't want to move for fear of waking her up.

• 1 to be frightened of something or someone unpleasant:

  • Most older employees fear unemployment.

  • What do you fear most?

  • [ + (that) ] Police fear (that) the couple may have drowned.

  • formal It is feared (that) as many as two hundred passengers may have died in the crash.

  • We huddled together, fearing we might be killed.

  • [ + to infinitive ] Fearing to go herself, she sent her son to find out the news.

  • [ + (that) ] I fear (that) she's already left.

• 2 a strong emotion caused by great worry about something dangerous, painful, or unknown that is happening or might happen:

  • [ U ] Even when the boat was rocked by waves, the boy showed no fear.

  • [ C ] The low sales continued, confirming our worst fears.

  • [ U ] She stood very still for fear of (= because she was worried about) being noticed.

• 3 to be frightened about someone or something unpleasant:

  • [ I ] The cab driver was going so fast, I feared for our safety.

  • [ + that clause ] They fear that Congress may not allocate the money needed.