0 past simple and past participle of fear
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.
[ + to infinitive ] Fearing to go herself, she sent her son to find out the news.
[ + (that) ] I fear (that) she's already left.
He reassured people that law-abiding citizens would have nothing to fear from the enquiries.
It was feared that the break-up of the oil tanker would result in further pollution.
The police feared that the crowd were becoming disorderly and so they moved in with horses.
The committee kept the results of the survey to itself, fearing a bad public reaction.
The government fears that talking to terrorists might legitimize their violent actions.
Perhaps these film-makers feared that the presence of the ' real' would prove too disruptive.
He feared both the loss of secrets and the introduction of lax methods.
Such a system, it was feared, would open the door to 'interference from central quarters'.
