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Penny vs Dreadful - What's the difference?

penny | dreadful |

As a proper noun penny

is a diminutive of the female given name penelope.

As an adjective dreadful is

causing dread; very bad.

As a noun dreadful is

a shocking or sensational crime.

penny

English

Noun

(en-noun)
  • (lb) In the United Kingdom and Ireland, a copper coin worth 1/240 of a pound sterling or Irish pound before decimalisation. Abbreviation: d.
  • *
  • *:Thanks to that penny he had just spent so recklessly [on a newspaper] he would pass a happy hour, taken, for once, out of his anxious, despondent, miserable self. It irritated him shrewdly to know that these moments of respite from carking care would not be shared with his poor wife, with careworn, troubled Ellen.
  • In the United Kingdom, a copper coin worth 1/100 of a pound sterling.
  • (lb) In Ireland, a coin worth 1/100 of an Irish pound before the introduction of the euro. Abbreviation: p.
  • In the US and Canada, a one-cent coin, worth 1/100 of a dollar. Abbreviation: .
  • In various countries, a small-denomination copper or brass coin.
  • A unit of nail size, said to be either the cost per 100 nails, or the number of nails per penny. Abbreviation: d.
  • Money in general.
  • :
  • *(William Shakespeare) (c.1564–1616)
  • *:What penny hath Rome borne, / What men provided, what munition sent?

    • Usage notes

    The plural is used for other cases, in particular when referring to multiple individual coins.

    Synonyms

    * old penny * new penny (old-fashioned ) * (one-cent coin) cent

    Derived terms

    * a bad penny always turns up * bad penny * eightpenny nail * fourpenny nail * * pence * penniless * penny ante * penny arcade * penny dreadful * penny-farthing * penny for one's thoughts * penny pincher * penny wedding * penny whistle * pretty penny * sixpenny nail * tenpenny nail * watch the pennies

    Verb

  • (slang) To jam a door shut by inserting pennies between the doorframe and the door.
    • Zach and Ben had only been at college for a week when their door was pennied by the girls down the hall.
  • (electronics) To circumvent the tripping of an electrical circuit breaker by the dangerous practice of inserting a coin in place of a fuse in a fuse socket.

    • See also

    * d * the penny drops English nouns with irregular plurals ----

    dreadful

    English

    Alternative forms

    * (l) (archaic) * (l) (obsolete)

    Adjective

    (en adjective)
  • Causing dread; very bad.
  • * 1900 , , (The Wonderful Wizard of Oz) Chapter 23
    • "My greatest wish now," she added, "is to get back to Kansas, for Aunt Em will surely think something dreadful has happened to me, and that will make her put on mourning; and unless the crops are better this year than they were last, I am sure Uncle Henry cannot afford it."
  • *, chapter=17
    • , title= The Mirror and the Lamp , passage=This time was most dreadful for Lilian. Thrown on her own resources and almost penniless, she maintained herself and paid the rent of a wretched room near the hospital by working as a charwoman, sempstress, anything. In a moment she had dropped to the level of a casual labourer.}}
  • * {{quote-news, year=2011, date=December 10, author=Marc Higginson, work=BBC Sport
    • , title= Bolton 1-2 Aston Villa , passage=After a dreadful performance in the opening 45 minutes, they upped their game after the break and might have taken at least a point from the match.}}

    Usage notes

    * Nouns to which "dreadful" is often applied: day, night, state, news, time, secret, storm, mistake, accident, story, dream, havoc, truth, loss, act, life, thought, creature, curse, suffering.

    Noun

    (en noun)
  • A shocking or sensational crime.
  • A shocking or sensational report of a crime.

    • Derived terms

    * penny dreadful

    References

    * (EtymOnLine)