- present participle of dread.
dreading
Americanverb
Etymology
Origin of dreading
Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
All of these factors contribute towards a situation which has now left many dreading the idea of going to A&E.
From BBC ● Mar. 2, 2026
The couple is among thousands of immigrant parents hiding in their homes in Minneapolis, dreading that federal agents will come knocking.
From Barron's ● Feb. 2, 2026
In private, in my office, she admitted to avoiding mirrors, skipping photos and dreading social events.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jan. 2, 2026
The scene everyone is dreading and/or waiting for doesn’t exist, so what exists in its place?
From Los Angeles Times ● Nov. 25, 2025
It was several moments before I saw the dark, cloaked figure leading a horse—the very figure I had been hoping, yet dreading, to see.
From "The Shakespeare Stealer" by Gary L. Blackwood
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.