FEARING Synonyms: 26 Similar and Opposite Words

fearing

verb

present participle of fear

as in worrying

to experience concern or anxiety her friends feared that she was dating a guy who was all wrong for her

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Examples are automatically compiled from online sources to show current usage. Read More Opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback.

Recent Examples of fearing Many of them took to Reddit to decry the changes, fearing that the company would use their content to create AI therapists that would replace them. — Amanda Erickson, STAT, 20 Oct. 2026 Ethiopia and five other countries backed it; Egypt and Sudan declined to sign, fearing their water shares could be reduced. — Khaled Kazziha, Fortune, 19 Oct. 2026 But states and voting machine vendors were wary about sharing data on weaknesses in voting systems, fearing it could be exploited if certain details were to become public. — Andy Mannix, ProPublica, 19 Oct. 2026 During the Obama years, fearing the show had gotten too political, the network decided to fire one Republican, Elisabeth Hasselbeck, and one Democrat, Behar. — Brock Colyar, Vulture, 16 Oct. 2026 Five former corporate employees agreed to speak with NPR on the condition of anonymity, fearing retaliation from Mazal Group. — Monika Evstatieva, NPR, 14 Oct. 2026 The plan fell apart in 2024 amid state and federal lawsuits fearing consumer harm and anticompetitive practices. — Mark Dee, Idaho Statesman, 14 Oct. 2026 At its 2026 national summit, the book-ban-pushing, DEI-opposing, trans-fearing Moms of Liberty group unveiled a new AI tool designed to monitor school board agendas across more than 13,000 school districts nationwide. — Kenneal Patterson, Vanity Fair, 13 Oct. 2026 Because of the weather, Douglas and his team had to sit on the tarmac for an hour and a half, fearing the whole time that the Moroccan authorities would catch on to their plan and show up to quarantine or arrest them. — Jim Hemphill, IndieWire, 13 Oct. 2026

Recent Examples of Synonyms for fearing

worrying

Verb

Ready to take on Halloween, Thanksgiving, and a December full of holiday parties without worrying if your wardrobe will still fit in 2027?

— Patricia Neligan, AJC.com, 21 Oct. 2026
Another theory is that with the fall harvest nearly complete, now is a relatively safe time to deport farmworkers in the countryside without immediately worrying about empty shelves in supermarkets, Mejia said.

— Jack Dolan, Los Angeles Times, 16 Oct. 2026

Definition of worrying

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fearfulness

fearing

fearless

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“Fearing.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/fearing. Accessed 27 Oct. 2026.

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Synonyms of fearing

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