Verb of fearing

In Latin grammar, a verb of fearing is one that pertains to fear or concern (often timeo, terreor, metuo, and vereor). This set of verbs is grammatically notable because it inverts the sense of a following purposive clause, at least relative to the intuition of speakers of many non-Latin languages.

A verb of fearing followed by a "ne" purposive clause means that the subject fears that the event will happen (but wishes that it would not). A verb of fearing followed by an "ut" purposive clause means that the subject fears that the event will not happen (but wishes that it would).