AWFUL

awful, dire, direful, dread, dreaded, dreadful, fearful, fearsome, frightening, horrendous, horrific, terrible

(adjective) 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”

atrocious, abominable, awful, dreadful, painful, terrible, unspeakable

(adjective) 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”

amazing, awe-inspiring, awesome, awful, awing

(adjective) 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”

nasty, awful

(adjective) 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

frightful, terrible, awful, tremendous

(adjective) extreme in degree or extent or amount or impact; “in a frightful hurry”; “spent a frightful amount of money”

awed, awful

(adjective) inspired by a feeling of fearful wonderment or reverence; “awed by the silence”; “awful worshippers with bowed heads”

terribly, awfully, awful, frightfully

(adverb) used as intensifiers; “terribly interesting”; “I’m awful sorry”

Source: WordNet® 3.1


Etymology

Adjective

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

Very bad.

Exceedingly great; usually applied intensively.

(now dated) Causing fear or horror; appalling, terrible.

(now rare) Inspiring awe; filling with profound reverence or respect; profoundly impressive.

(now rare) Struck or filled with awe.

(obsolete) Terror-stricken.

Worshipful; reverential; law-abiding.

Synonyms

• See also frightening

Adverb

awful (not comparable)

Awfully; dreadfully; terribly.

(colloquial, US, Canada) Very, extremely.

Source: Wiktionary


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.

Source: Webster’s Unabridged Dictionary 1913 Edition



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Word of the Day

22 January 2025

MEGALITH

(noun) memorial consisting of a very large stone forming part of a prehistoric structure (especially in western Europe)


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Coffee Trivia

The earliest credible evidence of coffee-drinking as the modern beverage appeared in modern-day Yemen. In the middle of the 15th century in Sufi shrines where coffee seeds were first roasted and brewed for drinking. The Yemenis procured the coffee beans from the Ethiopian Highlands.

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