From Longman Dictionary of Contemporary EnglishI fearI fearformalTHINK/HAVE THE OPINION THAT used when telling someone that you think that something bad has happened or is trueI fear (that) I fear that there is little more we can do.I fear so/I fear not ‘Were they satisfied?’ ‘I fear not.’ → fear
Examples from the Corpus
I fear (that)• The Lord is my light and my salvation; whom shall I fear?• And I fear for the darkness as four Justices anxiously await the single vote necessary to extinguish the light.• It is difficult to know where to have Randolph Ash. I fear he will never become a popular poet.• Lastly, I fear I may have to disappoint you when I say that the coin is more interesting than valuable.• This situation is extremely annoying, though. I fear Lumley may need replacing.• As ex-Servicemen, they had not only dealt with the situations I feared most, but also those I could not imagine.• For I feared then what we know now.• The dinner table sometimes became a battleground. I feared we would all fall apart if we kept this up much longer. 