Though I don't think bukkit is waiting for an official answer, anymore. The discussion was removed from the original/official survey thread, after all. But in any case, I hope nobody minds if I chime in a bit more...?
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a distressing emotion aroused by impending danger, evil, pain, etc., whether the threat is real or imagined
---The above definition by itself is already quite revealing, but I'll add few more to emphasize:
- the bad feeling that you have when you are in danger, when something bad might happen, or when a particular thing frightens you
- a feeling of agitation and anxiety caused by the presence or imminence of danger
- a painful emotion or passion excited by the expectation of evil, or the apprehension of impending danger; apprehension; anxiety; solicitude; alarm; dread
- that which causes, or which is the object of, apprehension or alarm; source or occasion of terror; danger; dreadfulness
- to feel a painful apprehension of; to be afraid of; to consider or expect with emotion of alarm or solicitude
- an unpleasant emotion caused by the threat of danger, pain, or harm
- be afraid of (someone or something) as likely to be dangerous, painful, or harmful
- a strong, uncontrollable, unpleasant emotion caused by actual or perceived danger or threat
- an emotion experienced in anticipation of some specific pain or danger (usually accompanied by a desire to flee or fight)
(then there were also quite a lot of examples regarding fear of gods and deities, but I don't think they're that important)
Also:
Degrees of fear -- Fear can be described by different terms in accordance with its relative degrees. Fear covers a number of terms - terror, fright, paranoia, horror, persecution complex, dread
Can you see a common pattern? Yes, some people use the term "fear" in a wide spectrum, won't argue with that. Actually, I came across a couple of quite loose definitions myself, which in my opinion were nowhere near "fear". But the common definition of fear seems to be somewhat more drastic and extreme.
And no, I wouldn't relate it to this situation. I could see "worried" as the probable term to describe bukkit's situation. That's quite a long way from actual fear. "Uneasiness" might also be appropriate. But I wouldn't coin either of them under "fear" or "being afraid".
PS. Sorry about the odd "---" dashlines in there. For some reason it didn't like line breaks near the quote...