dread
DREDnounMeaning great fear of something that is coming
Memory hook DREAD: the thing under the BED. As bedtime nears, Pip is full of dread: he is sure something is hiding under his bed. (It is only the cat.)
Kai felt a growing dread as the dentist’s door creaked open.
In context The class had looked forward to the field trip for weeks, but as the bus crawled up the narrow cliff road, their excitement turned to dread.
Similar fear, apprehension, terror, foreboding
Opposite eagerness, confidence, calm
From an Old English verb meaning “to fear.”