awful

Definitions  ·  Examples  ·  Pronunciations  ·  Etymologies  ·  Related  ·  Statistics  ·  Comments (7)  · 
“
Only it may be remarked that the word awful, which is here used designedly, is not meant to imply that the loss of life was unusually large or the cruelty of the captors outrageous; in both respects Alaric and his Goths would compare favourably with some generals and some armies making much higher pretensions to civilisation.

View all »
Definitions (23)

Toggle American Heritage definitions American Heritage Dictionary (7)

  1. adjective Extremely bad or unpleasant; terrible: had an awful day at the office.
  2. adjective Commanding awe: "this sea, whose gently awful stirrings seem to speak of some hidden soul beneath” (Herman Melville).
  3. adjective Filled with awe, especially:
4 more from this dictionary »

Toggle Century definitions Century Dictionary (8)

Toggle GNU Webster definitions GNU Webster's 1913 (1)

Toggle WordNet definitions WordNet (7)

Toggle elsewhere links Elsewhere on the web

View all »
Examples (50)

  • There was a terrible fright among humankind recently when some scientists suggested that an abundance of synthetic chemicals was causing lower sperm counts in human males-awful, awful, awful-but this proves not to be the case; sperm counts are holding steady and are even on the rise in New York. —  Recently on This Recording
  • It was an awful dream,--awful, awful, awful!' —  Cast Away in the Cold An Old Man's Story of a Young Man's Adventures, as Related by Captain John Hardy, Mariner
  • Pray that she may be spared, and that her poor parents may be spared this awful--awful news Then she kissed her own girls, clasped them to her in a passionate embrace, and drove off to the Larches in the carriage which had brought the young people home Lady Darcy came out to meet her, and gripped her hand in welcome You have come! —  About Peggy Saville
  • This is awful--awful I don't want to go home," sobbed the boy, in pitiful abandon. —  Tess of the Storm Country
  • He bawled as he came--awful, reverberating sounds that froze the blood in the veins. —  The Snowshoe Trail
More examples »
 

Tags

Sign up or sign in to add tags.

Words tagged awful

Stats

This word has been looked up 196 times.

stop updating
On Twitter

Photos from

flickr images

Add a related word »
Related

Roget's II Roget's II: The New Thesaurus

Allen's Allen's Synonyms and Antonyms

Used in the same context Used in the Same Context

terrible ·  real ·  horrid ·  ugly ·  tragic
Roget's II: The New Thesaurus, Third Edition by the Editors of the American Heritage® Dictionary. Copyright © 2003, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.

Etymologies (2)

Toggle American Heritage etymologies American Heritage Dictionary (1)

  1. Middle English aweful, awe-inspiring, blend of awe, awe; see awe, and *ayfull, awful (from Old English egefull : ege, dread + -full, -ful).

Toggle Century etymologies Century Dictionary (1)

  1. from Middle English awful, agheful, aghful; Anglo-Saxon egeful, from ege, awe (see awe), + -ful.
 

Pronunciations
Record your own »
/ˈɔfəl/
by American Heritage

Charts
frequency chart

Bubble size: how much this word was used in a year

Bubble height: used more or less than expected, vs. all uses evenly distributed

You can expect to see this word about once a day.

Recently looked up

awful · pellucid · shaving · peace · troubles

Recent Favorites

pygopagus · sanglant · Astacus · sweetbread · qualms

Recent Pronunciations

Der dicke Dachdecker deckte dir dein Dach, drum dank dem dicken Dachdecker, dass der dicke Dachdecker dir dein Dach deckte. · weitläufig · und wenn sie nicht gestorben sind, so leben sie noch heute · redescheu · selbstverständlich