Expressions used in Everyday Spoken English in Social and Professional contexts
dreadful
dreadful
Meaning(s)
1) causing or involving suffering, fear or unhappiness
How to MemorizePopularity HighProfessional HighSocial
a dreadful mistake/error/time, dreadfully slow
Analysis
Dreadful is an adjective describing something awful, unpleasant or which causes suffering in some way. Something 'dreadful' literally fills us full of dread. You can have a dreadful fight or accident for example. Of then this word is used colloquially to describe something that we want to emphasise is very bad. "This food is dreadful." You will hear this adjective used often in all kinds of contexts.
Social Examples (Basic)
Not embracing social mediawas a dreadful mistakethat the company never recovered from.
The months after his wife's deathwere a dreadful time for the man.
Today is going dreadfully slow at work. I can't wait to get home!
Professional Examples (Basic)
Discarding of business cards someone else gives you is considered dreadful manners in China.
Our website needs to be upgraded immediately it looks absolutely dreadful.