What does afraid mean

Enter search text. Synonyms afraid afraid frightened scared terrified alarmed paranoid These words all describe feeling or showing fear. Scared is more informal, more common in speech, and often describes small fears.

Afraid cannot come before a noun. It can only take the preposition of , not about. She looked at him with wide, terrified eyes. Extra Examples What has made you so deeply afraid of your boss? Are you afraid of the dark? Don't be afraid. I won't hurt you. Of course, people were afraid to talk out loud. Instead of being afraid , the curious nature of children incites them to play. He told me that he wasn't afraid of death, only the process of getting there, because in the absence of life, there is no experience.

Nino is not merely afraid ; he is incompetent. They are not afraid to risk ridicule in the pursuit of true representation. How do we avoid going wrong because we think we understand or because we are afraid we might not?

Why are you afraid of a nuclear attack? I am afraid , however, that many potential readers will be deterred by the style of its presentation.

We should not be afraid to test these new data and concepts. Apart from physical dangers falls, scalds, and so on , being ' at home ' may mean being lonely, isolated and afraid. Both were afraid not only of alienating allies, but also of vagrancy and chaos within their domains. He even offered her a piece of land, she says, which she declined because she was afraid it would cause trouble in the family. I think he was afraid what he might pass on to you. Until then, some of them had expressed their criticism in secret, afraid of being labelled as enemies of the state.

See all examples of afraid. These examples are from corpora and from sources on the web. Any opinions in the examples do not represent the opinion of the Cambridge Dictionary editors or of Cambridge University Press or its licensors.

Translations of afraid in Chinese Traditional. See more. Need a translator? Translator tool. What is the pronunciation of afraid? Browse afoot. African American. Test your vocabulary with our fun image quizzes. The definition of afraid is to be filled with fear or regret. Filled with fear; frightened. Afraid of ghosts; afraid to die; afraid for his life. Having feelings of aversion or unwillingness in regard to something.

Not afraid of hard work; afraid to show emotion. Filled with regret or concern. Used especially to soften an unpleasant statement. He is afraid of death. He is afraid to die.