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
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.
• See also frightening
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
14 April 2025
(noun) maximum clarity or distinctness of an image rendered by an optical system; “in focus”; “out of focus”
The Boston Tea Party helped popularize coffee in America. The hefty tea tax imposed on the colonies in 1773 resulted in America switching from tea to coffee. In the lead up to the Revolutionary War, it became patriotic to sip java instead of tea. The Civil War made the drink more pervasive. Coffee helped energize tired troops, and drinking it became an expression of freedom.
