Dread and Scary

Related words

Dread adjective - Causing fear.

Usage example: every ship on the Spanish Main was terrified of running into the dread pirate

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Scary and dread are semantically related. In some cases you can use "Scary" instead an adjective "Dread".

Nearby Words: dreadful, dreadfully, dreaded, dreading, dreader

Scary adjective - Causing fear.

Usage example: a scary movie that gave the child nightmares for weeks afterwards

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Dread and scary are semantically related. Sometimes you can use "Dread" instead the word "Scary" as an adjective or a noun.

Nearby Words: scare, scar, scared, scaring

Knowing that one will eventually die is not on its own necessarily scary, but knowing that there is an exact date attached to one's death adds a level of urgency, something to dread.

Source: Analysis / Dead Bart
While the plates accompanying it are innocuous and not that scary, whenever a Venezuelan listens the Venevision fanfarre (used whenever a big news breaks thorough) a feeling of dread fills them.

Source: Nightmare Fuel / Vanity Plate
The limited use of this ability is one of many talents that makes the psychopathic villain Dread from Tad Williams' Otherland so scary.

Source: Technopath

Cite this Source

Scary and Dread. (2016). Retrieved 2026, July 21, from https://thesaurus.plus/related/dread/scary

Dread & Scary. N.p., 2016. Web. 21 Jul. 2026. <https://thesaurus.plus/related/dread/scary>.

Scary or Dread. 2016. Accessed July 21, 2026. https://thesaurus.plus/related/dread/scary.

Google Ngram Viewer shows how "dread" and "scary" have occurred on timeline