_Good-by_ is the homely and hearty, _farewell_ the formal English word at parting. _Adieu_, from the French, is still more ceremonious than _farewell_; _congé_, also from the French, is commonly contemptuous or supercilious, and equivalent to dismissal. _Valediction_ is a learned word never in popular use. A _valedictory_ is a public farewell to a company or assembly.
I bade farewell _to_ my comrades, or (without preposition) I bade my comrades farewell; I took a sad farewell _of_ my friends.
affright, dismay, horror, timidity, apprehension, disquietude, misgiving, trembling, awe, dread, panic, tremor, consternation, fright, terror, trepidation.
_Fear_ is the generic term denoting an emotion excited by threatening evil with a desire to avoid or escape it; _fear_ may be sudden or lingering, in view of present, of imminent, or of distant and only possible danger; in the latter sense _dread_ is oftener used. _Horror_ (etymologically a shivering or shuddering) denotes a shuddering _fear_ accompanied with abhorrence or such a shock to the feelings and sensibilities as may exist without _fear_, as when one suddenly encounters some ghastly spectacle; we say of a desperate but fettered criminal, "I looked upon him with _horror_." Where _horror_ includes _fear_, it is _fear_ mingled with abhorrence. (See ABHOR.) _Affright_, _fright_, and _terror_ are always sudden, and in actual presence of that which is terrible. _Fear_ may overwhelm, or may nerve one to desperate defense; _fright_ and _terror_ render one incapable of defense; _fear_ may be controlled by force of will; _fright_ and _terror_ overwhelm the will; _terror_ paralyzes, _fright_ may cause one to fly, to scream, or to swoon. _Fright_ is largely a matter of the nerves; _fear_ of the intellect and the imagination; _terror_ of all the faculties, bodily and mental. _Panic_ is a sudden _fear_ or _fright_, affecting numbers at once; vast armies or crowded audiences are liable to _panic_ upon slight occasion. In a like sense we speak of a financial _panic_. _Dismay_ is a helpless sinking of heart in view of some overwhelming peril or sorrow. _Dismay_ is more reflective, enduring, and despairing than _fright_; a horse is subject to _fright_ or _terror_, but not to _dismay_. _Awe_ is a reverential _fear_. Compare ALARM.