Definitions
American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition
- adj. Inspiring awe: an awesome thunderstorm.
- adj. Expressing awe: stood in awesome silence before the ancient ruins.
- adj. Slang Remarkable; outstanding: "a totally awesome arcade game” ( Los Angeles Times).
Century Dictionary and Cyclopedia
- Inspiring awe; awful: as, an awesome sight.
- Evidencing or expressive of terror.
- Also spelled awsome.
Wiktionary
- adj. Causing awe or terror; inspiring wonder or excitement.
- adj. colloquial Excellent, exciting, remarkable.
GNU Webster's 1913
- adj. Causing awe; appalling; awful.
- adj. Expressive of awe or terror.
WordNet 3.0
- adj. inspiring awe or admiration or wonder
Etymologies
- Early Modern English 1590-1600, from awe + -some. Compare Old English eġeful ("fearful, inspiring awe"). (Wiktionary)
Examples
“For starters, please stop using the word "awesome".”
The Huffington Post: John Blumenthal: Are You Trying Too Hard to Make Your Kids Think You're Cool?
“But personally, I would reserve the word "awesome" for something we haven't seen before and video chatting is hardly new.”
The Huffington Post: Larry Magid: Google+ & Facebook: Different Approaches to Video Chat
“I also think it nails the true unconscious communication of the word "awesome": dread.”
“In the 1988 British Collins Pocket Reference English Dictionary, the word "awesome" has a single definition: "dread mingled with reverence".”
“The word "awesome," has become so trivialized these days.”
The Huffington Post: Joseph Bobrow: Veterans Come Alive in the Great Outdoors
“I could have watched Dean fail to impress Ness with his "Untouchables" references and overuse of the word "awesome" for hours.”
“The word "awesome" is bandied about a lot these days.”
The Washington Post: National, World & D.C. Area News and Headlines - The Washington Post
“I feel that the adjective "awesome" is usually overused, but in the case of Costa Rica's biodiversity, the real definition of the word is applicable.”
The Huffington Post: Lauri Lyons: Go Wild and Green in Costa Rica!
“So, an expression has crept into my usage in the past few weeks, where the word "awesome" is no longer adequate for me.”
“That was freakin 'awesome and I'm glad that I'm not the only one that feels that way about Axl. March 10, 2010 8: 41 AM”
Special Guest Post: Chérie l'Ecrivain Has Some Metal Writing Advice For You
Lists
These user-created lists contain the word ‘awesome’.
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1100
abound, technology, branch of knowled..., prognosticate, automaton, matron, an older married ..., realm, special field of ..., kingdom, annals, historical records and 981 more...
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GRE 2014
abate, abdicate, abase, aberrant, abeyance, abhor, abjure, abortive, abound, abrasive, abreast, abridge and 1577 more...
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Visuals
A list of words which yield surprising, beautiful, amusing, or otherwise noteworthy images here on Wordnik.
photochrom, fufluns, thank you, cool l..., postcard, picture postcard, cricket, physiological ill..., Gakuryū Ishii, ametropia, One Froggy Evening, rhodopsin, Santiago Calatrava and 636 more...
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bbc uk china vocab.
conservationists, estimate, threats, infertility, eating away at, endangered, furry, panel, in trouble, gongs, triumphed, caps and 1007 more...
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hmm
i've decided i love these words
ludicrous, awesome, psyched, supercilious, superlicious, clownish, as a phrase "bomb", hi, almost, hots, no, cozy
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That's what she said and other spoken...
Once you start saying them, you can't seem to stop.
dude, cha-ching, meep, whatever, wha happen, that's what she said, talk to the hand, really?!, plinth, awesome, seriously?, ridonkulous and 3 more...
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Riley's list
Adjectives to describe Riley.
amazing, awesome, smart, nice, modest, genius, intense, the best, great, suave, narcissistic
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Adjectives for XKCD936-compliant pass...
A list of 2048 common English adjectives that could be used to create plausible, memorable random phrases.
I'm going to use this list in a password generator, inspired by big, small, happy, sad, red, orange, yellow, green, blue, purple, near, far and 19 more... -
Neato Keen Words
My list of neato keen words.
fab, neato, keen, fantabulous, awesome, marvellous, hubba, yurt, kempt, effete, jumbo, italic and 2 more...
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Rad Words.
Put any Rad word, any at all.
super, rad, awesome, amazing, cool, nerdfightastic, fantastic, spectacular, groovy, funky, dishy, sick and 5 more...
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Cool Words
Cool Words!
awesome, alpaca, waffle, schpazam!, whisper, pants, goo, pantsful, roundhand, socks, cell phone, accent and 2 more...
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Barron's 1100 words you need to know ...
aegis, awesome, conflagration, congenial, debris, deplorable, detriment, dispersed, doddering, eruption, hoard, imbibe and 7 more...
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Twitter faves
The new favourite words of people on Twitter.
A script searches Twitter for "X is my new favourite word" and adds it to this list.
See also:
niglets, aw, flakey, shiznit, thatch, sexy, bummers, hotty, eargasms, ratchetry, weird, fab and 457 more... -
Twitter favourites
The new favourite words of people on Twitter.
A script searches Twitter for "X is my new favourite word" and adds it to this list.
See also:
bumwank, calamity, recalcitrant, gayenese, jeeze, nonsense, flabbergasted, juxtapose, procrastinating, ossanity, biffing, loser and 1972 more... -
Twitter favorites
The new favourite words of people on Twitter.
A script searches Twitter for "X is my new favorite word" and adds it to this list.
See also:
unfathomably, glice, cuh, fab, ciggaty, doll, thuggin, oxymoronic, pineapple, succubutt, griming, cheeky and 2369 more... -
Autantonyms
Words with mutually exclusive double meanings. Also, here are some:
QUASI-AUTANTONYMS: slow up/slow down; bar/debar; bone/debone; burn up/burn down; fat chance/slim chance; fill in/fil...clip, cleave, sanction, handicap, fast, jibe, secrete, aloha, bimonthly, bolt, cheerio, commencement and 139 more...
Tweets
Looking for tweets for awesome.
fbharjo Have you ever wondered why 'full of awe' is the opposite of aw(e)ful? Awesome is an odd awe-sum! Aw(e)-shucks! It appears we have a limited capacity for awe. How awful!! We are so awe-struck, overawed and abawed! Aug 22, 2011
chrisb65 Overused word. Aug 22, 2011
mollusque Maybe he could use a vowelhound? Apr 11, 2011
bilby Well I can see why a Nw Zlndr would be desperately craving any kind of vowel. Apr 11, 2011
yarb Tua can play at that game! Apr 11, 2011
plutoman David Tua, a famous boxer here in NZ, once asked for an "O for awesome" on Wheel of Fortune. And that was the main part of the game where you can only choose consonants. Apr 10, 2011
EditorMark @LiteralMinded's @VisualThesaurus column on "awesome/awful/awe"--and rollercoasters! (paywall) http://bit.ly/bEoLxs Jun 10, 2010
samsmiles44 Used by 'dummies' who don't know the true meaning of the word! I assume some 'cleb' used it on TV and then all the 'sheep' took it up? Oct 9, 2009
tankexmortis I use it both ways myself. Jan 12, 2007
valse I see your predicament, pedalinfaith. awe-inspiring just doesn't have quite the same ring--gets the job done, but it even sounds a little cliché. Hmm, a better substitute isn't coming to me. I say spite the masses and continue using it as you always have :) Jan 5, 2007
pedalinfaith OK, I know its use as a colloquial synonym of 'excellent' has been around since the early 80's, but I still need a word that only means 'inducing terror or unbounded awe' because when I get that feeling (which happens more often than you'd think), using an adjective that implies anything less would just sacrilegiously cheapen the experience.
So, my two euros (since pennies aren't worth much these days): If your breath hasn't been taken away or your perception of reality hasn't been turned on its head or you aren't quaking with terror, then perhaps what you've encountered is something merely hawesome. :) Dec 7, 2006