Looking up...
afraid
/əˈfreɪd/
feeling fear
She was afraid of the dark.
She felt fear because of the darkness.
neutral
feeling fear or anxiety about something
He is afraid of spiders.
He feels fear when he sees spiders.
They were afraid to speak in public.
They felt anxiety about speaking in front of others.
Commonly used with 'of' to indicate the cause of fear (e.g., afraid of the dark). Can also be used with 'to' + verb to describe fear of an action (e.g., afraid to fly).
Pro Tip
Using 'afraid' with prepositions
'Afraid of' is used to indicate the cause of fear (e.g., 'afraid of the dark'), while 'afraid to' is used to indicate fear of an action (e.g., 'afraid to speak').
Gold Rule
Position in a sentence
'Afraid' is an adjective and usually comes after a verb like 'be', 'seem', or 'look' (e.g., 'She seems afraid'). It is rarely used before a noun.
Word Origin
From Middle English 'afraid', past participle of 'afeard' (frightened), from Old English 'āfyrht' (frightened), from 'ā-' (intensive prefix) + 'fyrht' (fear).
Usage Notes
The word 'afraid' is typically used after a verb (e.g., 'be', 'seem', 'look') and is not usually used before a noun. For example, 'an afraid child' is grammatically correct but less common than 'a frightened child'.
Word Breakdown
a-
intensifier
prefix-fray-
fear
root-d
past participle suffix
suffixEnglish Dictionary