ENGLISH
REFERENCE

fearing

v.
B1 Intermediate US //ˈfɪɹɪŋ// UK //fˈiəɹɪŋ// fear·ing

v. feeling afraid that something bad might happen. You use this when you are worried about a danger or a problem in the future.

v. experiencing a state of anxiety or apprehension regarding a potential threat or unpleasant outcome. The present participle form of 'fear', often used to introduce a reason for an action.


SIMPLE

Fearing a storm, they decided to stay home.

CONTEXTUAL

Fearing that the company might close, many employees started looking for new jobs elsewhere.

COMPLEX

Fearing a total collapse of the local economy, the central bank intervened with a massive injection of liquidity to stabilize the markets.

Synonyms
Usage

Often functions as a participle phrase at the start of a sentence to explain the motivation for the main clause.

Pitfall

He is fearing the dark.He fears the dark.Stative verbs like 'fear' are rarely used in the continuous (-ing) form to describe a general state; use the simple present instead.

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