dreadless

English

Etymology

From Middle English dredles, dredeles, equivalent to dread + -less.

Pronunciation

  • (UK) IPA(key): /ˈdɹɛdləs/

Adjective

dreadless (comparative more dreadless, superlative most dreadless)

  1. Feeling no dread or fear; unafraid.
    • 1590, Edmund Spenser, The Faerie Queene, I.vi:
      So doubly is distrest twixt ioy and cares / The dreadlesse courage of this Elfin knight, / Hauing escapt so sad ensamples in his sight.
    • 1603, John Florio, transl.; Michel de Montaigne, chapter 40, in The Essayes, [], book I, printed at London: By Val[entine] Simmes for Edward Blount [], OCLC 946730821:
      And to make shew of his dreadlesse magnanimitie, having caused a pan of burning coales to be brought, he saw and suffred his right arme [] to be parched and wel-nigh rosted-off [].
  2. (obsolete) Exempt from danger which causes dread; secure.
    • Spenser
      Safe in his dreadless den.

Derived terms

Anagrams

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