fear
A strong, unpleasant emotion or feeling caused by actual or perceived danger or threat.
Example
“He was struck by fear on seeing the snake.”
Other meanings
A phobia, a sense of fear induced by something or someone in particular.
“Not everybody has the same fears.”
Something one is afraid of; the object of one’s fear.
“Spiders are my greatest fear.”
Word history
From Old English "fǣr".
Where this comes from
This definition is adapted from “fear” on Wiktionary, by its contributors, published under CC BY-SA 4.0. This page is published under the same licence.