Afear
verb ·Rare ·Advanced level
Definitions
- 1 To imbue with fear; to affright, to terrify. dialectal, obsolete
"Moreouer the perfit beleue of this article, worketh in all true chriſten people, aloue to continue in this vnitie, and afeare to be caſte out of the ſame, and it worketh in them that be ſinners and repentant, great comforte, and conſolacion, to obteine remiſſion of ſinne, by vertue of Chriſtes paſſion, and adminiſtracion of his ſacramentes at the miniſters handes, ordained for that purpoſe, [...]"
Example
More examples"Moreouer the perfit beleue of this article, worketh in all true chriſten people, aloue to continue in this vnitie, and afeare to be caſte out of the ſame, and it worketh in them that be ſinners and repentant, great comforte, and conſolacion, to obteine remiſſion of ſinne, by vertue of Chriſtes paſſion, and adminiſtracion of his ſacramentes at the miniſters handes, ordained for that purpoſe, [...]"
Etymology
From Middle English aferen (“to frighten, terrify”), from Old English āfǣran (“to terrify, dismay”), from ā- (perfective prefix) + fǣran (“to frighten; to devour, raven”), from fǣr (“sudden danger, calamity, ambush; a blitz”), from Proto-Germanic *fērō (“danger”), from Proto-Indo-European *per- (“to try, dare, risk”).
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Data sourced from Wiktionary, WordNet, CMU, and other open linguistic databases. Updated March 2026.