I have long dreaded this day, m'lord.

In an assignment he has long dreaded, the philosophical police detective Aurelio Zen is sent to Sicily, where his adopted daughter is working, to spy on the government's anti-Mafia squad.

It was an episode that many here regarded as regrettable but necessary for avoiding a condition long dreaded in Japan - "excessive competition."

This is the day that Merck - and Pfizer - have long dreaded.

In a nation where three-quarters of the households have television sets but only half of the 82 million voters have finished primary school, the possibility of Mr. Santos's candidacy was dreaded all year long by other candidates.

Although the newspaper industry, which has aggressively moved into electronic publishing, has long dreaded the day when A.T.&T. would become a competitor, the American Newspaper Publishers Association did not directly oppose the long-distance company's request because its entry was viewed as all but inevitable.

But in Riverhead, where the expressway ends with a final curl into the Route 58 commercial strip, new stores, restaurants and a shopping mall suggest what many in this small, rural town have long dreaded: It has become attractive for commercial and residential development.

But military industry lobbyists say they have long dreaded the prospect that Mr. McCain might ascend to the chairmanship of the committee, much less the presidency.