for fear that
Proposed by a contributor, not yet supported by evidence.
Meaning · English
Because someone is worried that something might happen
Nghĩa · Tiếng Việt
Bởi vì ai đó lo lắng rằng điều gì đó có thể xảy ra
Machine-translated — suggest a fix
Literally: out of concern something will occur
Where it’s used:
Used
Widespread English
Examples
He worked hard for fear that he should fail.Anh ta làm việc rất chăm chỉ vì sợ bị thất bại.
Tatoeba sentence #298935 (CC BY 2.0 FR, tatoeba.org, retrieved 2026-07-31)
Sources & notes
Listed in Wiktionary’s “English idioms” category (retrieved 2026-07-29); definition pending editorial review. Definition drafted by AI (@cf/meta/llama-3.3-70b-instruct-fp8-fast) and auto-approved by rule on 2026-07-30; pending editor spot-check.
Common questions
What does “for fear that” mean?
Because someone is worried that something might happen Literally: out of concern something will occur
Is “for fear that” formal or informal?
No register label has been reviewed yet — treat it as neutral and check the usage notes above.