Word family noun fear fearfulness ≠ fearlessness adjective fearful ≠ fearless fearsome verb fear adverb fearfully ≠ fearlessly
From Longman Dictionary of Contemporary Englishfearsomefear‧some /ˈfɪəsəm $ ˈfɪr-/ adjective FRIGHTENEDvery frightening a fearsome weaponExamples from the Corpus
fearsome• Great big and fearsome Dimetrodon, a species of dinosaur, was the most powerful creature.• There was the other, fearsome, face of royalty.• They watched him intently, like a group of schoolboys would a fearsome master.• He would be a fearsome opponent.• Stalin's fearsome secret police 