metuo

From metus.

• (Classical Latin) IPA^(key): [ˈmɛ.tu.oː]
• (modern Italianate Ecclesiastical) IPA^(key): [ˈmɛː.t̪u.o]

metuō (present infinitive metuere, perfect active metuī, supine metūtum); third conjugation

1. to fear, be afraid

   Synonyms: vereor, extimēscō, timeō, trepidō

   Romani ab Hannibale metuentes sunt

   The Romans are terrified of Hannibal

   • 68 BCE – 44 BCE, Cicero, Epistulae ad Atticum 10.4.6:

     neque tam de suā vitā, quam de me metuit

     He is afraid not so much for his own life but for mine

2. (with dative) to be anxious or afraid about or for a specific person or thing
   • 27 BCE – 25 BCE, Titus Livius, Ab Urbe Condita I.9:

     tantam ... crescentem molem sibi ac posteris suis metuebant

     they feared, both for themselves and their descendants, such growing power

3. (Ecclesiastical Latin, of religious fear) to revere, dread
   • Vulgate Bible Leviticus.19.30:

     Sabbata mea custodite, et sanctuarium meum metuite. Ego Dominus.

     Uphold my sabbath and revere my sanctuary. I am the Lord.

• The verb metuō is a Latin verb of fearing.
• The term can be used with the prepositions ab, pro, or de.

• “metuo”, in Charlton T. Lewis and Charles Short (1879) A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
• “metuo”, in Charlton T. Lewis (1891) An Elementary Latin Dictionary, New York: Harper & Brothers
• metuo in Gaffiot, Félix (1934) Dictionnaire illustré latin-français, Hachette.
• Morwood, James. A Latin Grammar. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1999.