Dreadful means extremely bad or unpleasant, causing distress or dismay. When something is dreadful, it's awful enough to make you feel genuinely upset or disturbed.

A dreadful storm might flood streets and knock down power lines. A dreadful performance in a school play could mean forgetting lines, tripping over props, and leaving the audience cringing. If you caught a cold and felt dreadful, you'd be truly miserable, not just slightly under the weather.

The word carries weight beyond simply “bad.” A math test might go badly, but you'd call it dreadful if you completely blanked on everything you studied. A meal isn't just dreadful because you dislike mushrooms; it's dreadful if the food is burnt, cold, and inedible.

Something dreadful can also inspire a sense of dread: you might feel dreadful about having to confess you broke your sister's favorite possession.