awful
Pronunciation Adjective
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Pronunciation Adjective
awful (comparative awfuller, superlative awfullest)
- Very bad.
- My socks smell awful.
- We saw such an awful film last night that we left the theater before the end.
- Exceedingly great; usually applied intensively.
- an awful bonnet
- I have learnt an awful amount today.
- (now 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.
- 1839, J. Sheridan Le Fanu, Schalken the Painter
- (now rare) Inspiring awe; filling with profound reverence or respect; profoundly impressive.
- 1603, Michel de Montaigne, chapter 56, in John Florio, transl., The Essayes, […], book I, printed at London: By 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) […].
- (now rare) Struck or filled with awe.
- (obsolete) Terror-stricken.
- Worshipful; reverential; law-abiding.
- See also Thesaurus:frightening
- Italian: impressionante
- French: terrible, épouvantable, horrible
- German: schrecklich, furchtbar
- Italian: orribile
- Portuguese: horrível, terrível, medonho, apavorante, temível
- Russian: ужа́сный
- Spanish: horrible, terrible, atroz
- Portuguese: temível
awful (not comparable)
- Awfully; dreadfully; terribly.
- (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.
- Italian: tremendamente, spaventosamente, terribilmente
This text is extracted from the Wiktionary and it is available under the CC BY-SA 3.0 license | Terms and conditions | Privacy policy 0.002