DREADFUL in a Sentence

Learn DREADFUL from example sentences, some of them are from classic books. These examples are selected from a corpus with 300,000 sentences, including classic works and current mainstream media. Some sentences also link to their contexts.

For DREADFUL, below is one of 244 sentences:
"It's the first position in dancing." Alice said; but was dreadfully puzzled by the whole thing, and longed to change the subject.

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 Meanings and Examples of DREADFUL
Definition Example Sentence Classic Sentence
dreadful
 a.  very unpleasant; distasteful or shocking
Classic Sentence: (210 in 15 pages)
1  She half covered her eyes, in case he did do--something dreadful.
Between the Acts By Virginia Woolf
Context  Highlight   In Unit 6
2  He turned a dreadful smile to me, and as if with the decision of despair, plucked away the sheet.
Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde By Robert Louis Stevenson
Context  Highlight   In CHAPTER DR. LANYON'S NARRATIVE
3  Atone, by repentance and better conduct, for the shocking action you have committed, and the dreadful consequences to which it has led.
Hard Times By Charles Dickens
Context  Highlight   In BOOK 3: CHAPTER VI
4  Under the various burdens imposed by this unhappy state of affairs, the people of England suffered deeply for the present, and had yet more dreadful cause to fear for the future.
Ivanhoe By Walter Scott
Context  Highlight   In CHAPTER VII
5  And well and chivalrous did De Bracy that day maintain the fame he had acquired in the civil wars of that dreadful period.
Ivanhoe By Walter Scott
Context  Highlight   In CHAPTER XXXI
6  She wanted to forget, to forget the world, and all the dreadful, carrion-bodied people.
Lady Chatterley's Lover By D H Lawrence
Context  Highlight   In Chapter 8
7  It is not ugly, you see, at this end; there is some fine timber, but the situation of the house is dreadful.
Mansfield Park By Jane Austen
Context  Highlight   In CHAPTER VIII
8  I caught a dreadful cold, but that I did not regard.
Mansfield Park By Jane Austen
Context  Highlight   In CHAPTER XX
9  To talk over the dreadful business with Fanny, talk and lament, was all Lady Bertram's consolation.
Mansfield Park By Jane Austen
Context  Highlight   In CHAPTER XLVII
10  This dreadful communication could not be kept from the rest of the family.
Mansfield Park By Jane Austen
Context  Highlight   In CHAPTER XLVII
11  I only hope this'll teach master not to have any more of these dreadful creatures, that are born to be murderers and robbers from their very cradle.
Oliver Twist By Charles Dickens
Context  Highlight   In CHAPTER VI
12  The two crones, to all appearance, too busily occupied in the preparations for their dreadful duties to make any reply, were left alone, hovering about the body.
Oliver Twist By Charles Dickens
Context  Highlight   In CHAPTER XXIV
13  The man seemed to say this, with such dreadful hatred, that Oliver awoke with the fear, and started up.
Oliver Twist By Charles Dickens
Context  Highlight   In CHAPTER XXXIV
14  I was brought here, by the most dreadful and agonising of all apprehensions,' said the young man; 'the fear of losing the one dear being on whom my every wish and hope are fixed.
Oliver Twist By Charles Dickens
Context  Highlight   In CHAPTER XXXV
15  This mad excitement over, there returned, with ten-fold force, the dreadful consciousness of his crime.
Oliver Twist By Charles Dickens
Context  Highlight   In CHAPTER XLVIII
Example Sentence: (34 in 3 pages)
16  There is no royal road to science,and only those who do not dread the fatiguing climb of gaining its numinous summits.
17  I dread to think what would happen if there really was a fire here.
18  We all dread to think what will happen if the company closes.
19  I dread to think what will happen if they get elected.
20  Loftiest trees most dread the thunder.
21  While the seamen, pointing fingers, shrink in dread, and cry, 'Turn back!”
22  The titter that rippled around the room appeared to abash the boy, but in reality that result was caused rather more by his worshipful awe of his unknown idol and the dread pleasure that lay in his high good fortune.
23  They all quarrel so dreadfully one can't hear oneself speak.
24  "If it had grown up," she said to herself, "it would have made a dreadfully ugly child: but it makes rather a handsome pig, I think."
25  "It's the first position in dancing." Alice said; but was dreadfully puzzled by the whole thing, and longed to change the subject.
26  The version of the play that I saw had been dreadfully bowdlerized.
27  The party are dreading a repeat performance of their defeat in the last election.
28  He's dreading his driving test - he's sure he's going to fail.
29  I've got an interview tomorrow and I'm dreading it.
30  Ben Rogers hove in sight presently -- the very boy, of all boys, whose ridicule he had been dreading.