Adjacent Words

Awful definitions

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Webster's 1828 Dictionary

AWFUL, a. [awe and full.]
1. That strikes with awe; that fills with profound reverence; as the awful majesty of Jehovah.
2. That fills with terror and dread; as the awful approach of death.
3. Struck with awe; scrupulous.
A weak and awful reverence for antiquity.
Shakespeare uses it for worshipful, inspiring respect by authority or dignity.
Our common people use this word in the sense of frightful, ugly, detestable.

WordNet (r) 3.0 (2005)

adj
1: exceptionally bad or displeasing; "atrocious taste"; "abominable workmanship"; "an awful voice"; "dreadful manners"; "a painful performance"; "terrible handwriting"; "an unspeakable odor came sweeping into the room" [syn: atrocious, abominable, awful, dreadful, painful, terrible, unspeakable]
2: causing fear or dread or terror; "the awful war"; "an awful risk"; "dire news"; "a career or vengeance so direful that London was shocked"; "the dread presence of the headmaster"; "polio is no longer the dreaded disease it once was"; "a dreadful storm"; "a fearful howling"; "horrendous explosions shook the city"; "a terrible curse" [syn: awful, dire, direful, dread, dreaded, dreadful, fearful, fearsome, frightening, horrendous, horrific, terrible]
3: offensive or even (of persons) malicious; "in a nasty mood"; "a nasty accident"; "a nasty shock"; "a nasty smell"; "a nasty trick to pull"; "Will he say nasty things at my funeral?"- Ezra Pound [syn: nasty, awful] [ant: nice]
4: inspired by a feeling of fearful wonderment or reverence; "awed by the silence"; "awful worshippers with bowed heads" [syn: awed, awful]
5: extreme in degree or extent or amount or impact; "in a frightful hurry"; "spent a frightful amount of money" [syn: frightful, terrible, awful, tremendous]
6: inspiring awe or admiration or wonder; "New York is an amazing city"; "the Grand Canyon is an awe-inspiring sight"; "the awesome complexity of the universe"; "this sea, whose gently awful stirrings seem to speak of some hidden soul beneath"- Melville; "Westminster Hall's awing majesty, so vast, so high, so silent" [syn: amazing, awe-inspiring, awesome, awful, awing] adv
1: used as intensifiers; "terribly interesting"; "I'm awful sorry" [syn: terribly, awfully, awful, frightfully]

Merriam Webster's

I. adjective Date: 13th century 1. inspiring awe 2. filled with awe: as a. obsolete afraid, terrified b. deeply respectful or reverential 3. extremely disagreeable or objectionable <awful food> 4. exceedingly great — used as an intensive <an awful lot of money> • awfully adverb • awfulness noun Usage: Many grammarians take issue with the senses of awful and awfully that do not convey the etymological connection with awe. However, senses 3 and 4 of the adjective were used in speech and casual writing by the late 18th century <it is an awful while since you have heard from me — John Keats (letter)> <there was an awful crowd — Sir Walter Scott (letter)> <this is an awful thing to say to oil painters — William Blake>. Adverbial use of awful as an intensifier began to appear in print in the early 19th century, as did the senses of awfully corresponding to senses 3 and 4 of the adjective. Both adverbs remain in widespread use <a sad state of affairs and awful tough on art — H. L. Mencken> <the awfully rich young American — Henry James> <decided to play it so awfully safe — A. M. Schlesinger b1917>. II. adverb Date: 1818 very, extremely <awful tired>

Oxford Reference Dictionary

adj. 1 colloq. a unpleasant or horrible (awful weather). b poor in quality; very bad (has awful writing). c (attrib.) excessive; large ( an awful lot of money). 2 poet. inspiring awe. Derivatives: awfulness n. Etymology: AWE + -FUL

Webster's 1913 Dictionary

Awful Aw"ful, a. 1. Oppressing with fear or horror; appalling; terrible; as, an awful scene. ``The hour of Nature's awful throes.'' --Hemans. 2. Inspiring awe; filling with profound reverence, or with fear and admiration; fitted to inspire reverential fear; profoundly impressive. Heaven's awful Monarch. --Milton. 3. Struck or filled with awe; terror-stricken. [Obs.] A weak and awful reverence for antiquity. --I. Watts. 4. Worshipful; reverential; law-abiding. [Obs.] Thrust from the company of awful men. --Shak. 5. Frightful; exceedingly bad; great; -- applied intensively; as, an awful bonnet; an awful boaster. [Slang] Syn: See Frightful.

Collin's Cobuild Dictionary

Frequency: The word is one of the 3000 most common words in English. 1. If you say that someone or something is awful, you dislike that person or thing or you think that they are not very good. We met and I thought he was awful... ...an awful smell of paint... Even if the weather's awful there's lots to do... Jeans look awful on me. = dreadful ? wonderful ADJ • awfulness The programme's awfulness has ensured it is talked about. 2. If you say that something is awful, you mean that it is extremely unpleasant, shocking, or bad. Her injuries were massive. It was awful... Some of their offences are so awful they would chill the blood. = horrific ADJ 3. If you look or feel awful, you look or feel ill. I hardly slept at all and felt pretty awful... = terrible ADJ: v-link ADJ 4. You can use awful with noun groups that refer to an amount in order to emphasize how large that amount is. I've got an awful lot of work to do. = tremendous ADJ: ADJ n [emphasis] • awfully Would you mind awfully waiting a bit, I'll be back right away. = terribly ADV: usu ADV adj/adv 5. You can use awful with adjectives that describe a quality in order to emphasize that particular quality. (AM INFORMAL) Gosh, you're awful pretty... = very ADV: ADV adj [emphasis]

Soule's Dictionary of English Synonyms

a. 1. Dread, awe-inspiring, reverend, venerable, august, grand, stately, imposing, solemn, majestic. 2. Dreadful, fearful, horrible, horrid, horrifying, terrible, dire, direful, frightful, appalling, tremendous, overwhelming, alarming, portentous.

Moby Thesaurus

Babylonian, Corinthian, abominable, appalling, arrant, astounding, atrocious, august, awe-inspiring, awesome, awfully, awing, bad, baneful, barbaric, base, beastly, beneath contempt, big, bizarre, blameworthy, brutal, contemptible, crazy, damned, deadly, deluxe, deplorable, despicable, detestable, dire, direful, disgusting, divine, dread, dreaded, dreadful, eerie, egregious, elaborate, elegant, enormous, estimable, execrable, extravagant, extremely, fancy, fearful, fell, fetid, filthy, fine, flagrant, forbidding, formidable, foul, frightful, fulsome, ghastly, ghoulish, glorious, grand, grandiose, grave, greatly, grievous, grim, grisly, gross, grotesque, gruesome, hateful, heavenly, heinous, hideous, holy, honorable, horrendous, horrible, horrid, horrific, horrifying, howling, hugely, imposing, impressive, ineffable, inenarrable, inexpressible, infamous, inferior, inviolable, inviolate, lamentable, loathsome, lousy, luxurious, macabre, magnificent, majestic, monstrous, morbid, mortally, moving, much, mysterious, nasty, nefarious, noble, noisome, notorious, numinous, obnoxious, odious, offensive, ominous, outrageous, palatial, pitiable, pitiful, plush, portentous, posh, princely, proud, rank, redoubtable, regrettable, religious, repelling, reprehensible, repugnant, repulsive, reverend, revolting, ritzy, rotten, rousing, sacred, sacrosanct, sad, scandalous, schlock, schrecklich, scurvy, serious, shabby, shameful, shocking, shoddy, solemn, sordid, spiritual, splendacious, splendid, splendiferous, squalid, stately, sumptuous, superb, superfancy, superfine, swank, swanky, swell, tasteless, terrible, terribly, terrific, thumping, time-honored, too bad, tragic, tremendous, ugly, uncanny, unclean, unpleasant, unsightly, unspeakable, untouchable, unutterable, venerable, vile, villainous, weird, whacking, whopping, woeful, worshipful, worst, worthless, wretched