the.com/afraid
The body's smoke alarm, going off whether or not there's fire.
means Feeling fear or worry that something bad might happen, or already has.
from From Old French esfreer, to frighten or disturb the peace — literally to startle someone out of their calm. The English afraid is the ghost of a verb nobody uses anymore.
Frozen verbOnce a real past participle of affray.
Polite cousinIm afraid often signals regret, not terror.
No comparisonYou cannot be more afraider, grammatically speaking.