Impressed with fear or apprehension; in fear.
Used in a Sentence
afraid
Definitions, parts of speech, synonyms, and sentence examples for afraid.
Editorial note
It's a mess, and the management is much too afraid to change the product.
Examples14
Definitions3
Parts of speech1
Quick take
Impressed with fear or apprehension; in fear.
Meaning at a glance
The clearest senses and uses of afraid gathered in one view.
Worried about, feeling concern for, fearing for (someone or something). [with for]
Regretful, sorry; expressing a reluctance to face an unpleasant situation. [with that (+ clause) or clause; or with so or not]
Definitions
Core meanings and parts of speech for afraid.
adjective
Impressed with fear or apprehension; in fear.
See also: concerned, disinclined
adjective
Worried about, feeling concern for, fearing for (someone or something). [with for]
See also: concerned, disinclined
adjective
Regretful, sorry; expressing a reluctance to face an unpleasant situation. [with that (+ clause) or clause; or with so or not]
See also: concerned, disinclined
Example sentences
It's a mess, and the management is much too afraid to change the product.
Being a doctor is who he is - if he gives that up, I'm afraid of what will happen.
They can solve problems both individually and collaboratively, while not being afraid to ask for help when the need it.
Why You Should Join Us TL;DR — We're not afraid to be our wild selves.
We aren’t afraid to try new things, but they must support our millions of users.
If you're in your late 20s and coding is all you've ever done, be afraid.
But you gave the answer - a few generations ago people were not afraid.
I'm afraid RSS readers aren't very popular, however, and Google was indeed in a better place to change that.
You’ve used a lot of technologies, but you’re not afraid to use more.
His initial explanation of uncountable infinity isn't exactly correct, and I'm afraid it will give people the wrong idea.
Companies aren't killed by competitors, but by an inability to adapt to new means of doing business (usually because upper management is afraid to compete internally with the existing company and factions).
And that I'm afraid is because of this particular aspect of San Francisco group think.
Quote examples
This time, I could afford to be picky, and I wasn't afraid to say to some of the shadier ones, "never contact me again".
While I respect people who continue to work after they retire, in my opinion they do that simply because work is their "safe zone" and they're afraid of letting go and branching out into other things.
Frequently asked questions
Short answers drawn from the clearest meanings and examples for this word.
How do you use afraid in a sentence?
It's a mess, and the management is much too afraid to change the product.
What does afraid mean?
Impressed with fear or apprehension; in fear.
What part of speech is afraid?
afraid is commonly used as adjective.