Wiktionary

awful

EnglishEdit

Alternative formsEdit

EtymologyEdit

From Middle English agheful, awfull, auful, aȝefull, equivalent to awe +‎ -ful. Compare Old English eġeful, eġefull (“terrifying; awful”).

PronunciationEdit

AdjectiveEdit

awful (comparative awfuller or more awful, superlative awfullest or most awful)

  1. Very bad.
    My socks smell awful.
    We saw such an awful film last night that we left the theater before the end.
  2. Exceedingly great; usually applied intensively.
    an awful bonnet
    I have learnt an awful amount today.
    • 2010, BioWare, Mass Effect 2 (Science Fiction), Redwood City: Electronic Arts, OCLC 865290061, PC, scene: Normandy SR-2 AI Core Room:
      Shepard: You seem to know an awful lot about me.
      Geth: Extranet data sources. Insecure broadcasts. All organic data sent out is received. We watch you.
  3. (dated) Causing fear or horror; appalling, terrible.
    • 1839, J. Sheridan Le Fanu, Schalken the Painter
      There was an air of gravity and importance about the garb of the person, and something indescribably odd, I might say awful, in the perfect, stonelike stillness of the figure, that effectually checked the testy comment which had at once risen to the lips of the irritated artist.
  4. (now rare) Inspiring awe; filling with profound reverence or respect; profoundly impressive.
    Alternative form: awe-ful
    • 1603, Michel de Montaigne, chapter 56, in John Florio, transl., The Essayes […], book I, London: […] Val[entine] Simmes for Edward Blount […], OCLC 946730821:
      God ought not to be commixed in our actions, but with awful reverence, and an attention full of honour and respect.
    • 1819, Lord Byron, Don Juan, II.143:
      And then she stopped, and stood as if in awe / (For sleep is awful) […].
    • 1981, William Irwin Thompson, The Time Falling Bodies Take to Light: Mythology, Sexuality and the Origins of Culture, London: Rider/Hutchinson & Co., page 124:
      If the keepers of the sacred corral discovered paternity in their stock breeding, then that knowledge would have been seen as numinous, awe-ful, and unconsciously unsettling.
  5. (now rare) Struck or filled with awe or reverence.
    • 1848 November – 1850 December, William Makepeace Thackeray, chapter 2, in The History of Pendennis. […], volume (please specify |volume=I or II), London: Bradbury and Evans, […], published 1849–1850, OCLC 2057953:
      She spoke about Mr. Pendennis (a worthy little gentleman enough, but there are others as good as he) with an awful reverence, as if he had been the Pope of Rome on his throne, and she a cardinal kneeling at his feet, and giving him incense.
  6. (obsolete) Terror-stricken.

SynonymsEdit

Derived termsEdit

TranslationsEdit

terror-stricken — see terrorstricken
The translations below need to be checked and inserted above into the appropriate translation tables. See instructions at Wiktionary:Entry layout § Translations.
Translations to be checked

AdverbEdit

awful (not comparable)

  1. (colloquial) Awfully; dreadfully; terribly.
    • 1933 January 21, The Sydney Sportsman, page 1:
      The race was run, and the dog ran "awful".
  2. (colloquial, US, Canada) Very, extremely.
    That's an awful big house.
    She seemed awful nice when I met her yesterday.
    He was blubbering away something awful.

TranslationsEdit

See alsoEdit

Further readingEdit

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