awe
Americannoun
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an overwhelming feeling of reverence, admiration, fear, etc., produced by that which is grand, sublime, extremely powerful, or the like.
in awe of God; in awe of great political figures.
- Synonyms:
- veneration, wonder
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Archaic. power to inspire fear or reverence.
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Obsolete. fear or dread.
verb (used with object)
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to inspire with awe.
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to influence or restrain by awe.
noun
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overwhelming wonder, admiration, respect, or dread
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archaic power to inspire fear or reverence
verb
Other Word Forms
Derived Forms
Inflected Forms
Participles
Conjugated Forms
Present
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awesimple
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awessimple
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have awedperfect
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has awedperfect
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am awingprogressive
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are awingprogressive
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is awingprogressive
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have been awingperfect progressive
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has been awingperfect progressive
Past
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awedsimple
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had awedperfect
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was awingprogressive
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were awingprogressive
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had been awingperfect progressive
Future
Etymology
Origin of awe
First recorded in 1250–1300; Middle English aghe, awe, from Scandinavian; compare Old Norse agi “fear,” cognate with Gothic agis, Old English ege, Greek áchos “pain”
Explanation
Awe is a feeling of fear that is mixed with respect and wonder. You might gaze at the Grand Canyon with awe, marveling at its beauty and fearing its depth. Awe dates back to Middle English, and was borrowed from Old Norse, a Scandinavian language. In Middle English the word referred to intense fear. The related English word awful originally meant "full of or causing intense fear." And awesome, which originally meant "inspiring awe" now is used generally as a synonym for excellent.
Vocabulary lists containing awe
100 SAT Words Beginning with "A"
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"The Crucible" -- Vocabulary from all 4 Acts
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Essential Three-Letter Words, Part 1
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Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
See Examples For:
Oh gosh, there’s so many people whose work I admire, but I think the person that I just have so much awe and admiration for is Jean Smart.
From Los Angeles Times ● Jul. 8, 2026
On the train journey through steel country, he watched with awe the huge industrial furnaces that belched smoke and fire.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jun. 22, 2026
Folk from these parts gawping and filming their visitors in awe.
From BBC ● Jun. 20, 2026
I was in awe of the fact that in 40 years of reporting on the White House I never once, in my wildest and most macabre hallucinations, dreamed up anything like that event.
From Salon ● Jun. 19, 2026
He was a foreigner, and although I no longer stood in awe of him, still the secret had been long locked up in my breast and would not come out easily.
From "Nectar in a Sieve" by Kamala Markandaya
The keyboard introduction to What Was I Made For?, taken from the recent soundtrack to the Barbie movie, draws gasps and "awes" from around the field.
From BBC ● Aug. 25, 2023
The pace of building in South Korea awes, but there are gripes that the quality of public exhibitions, and professional standards, varies widely.
From New York Times ● Jan. 5, 2023
While Churchill awes spectators with its size and scope, on par with the world’s monumental stadiums, Keeneland, opened in 1936, guards its idyllic appeal.
From Washington Post ● Sep. 22, 2021
The teacher has already inserted into the hat the rabbit whose production in the classroom awes the undergraduates.
From The New Yorker ● Aug. 24, 2015
And godless though I am, the fact of being human, the fact of possessing the gift of study, and thus being remarkable among all the matter floating through the cosmos, still awes me.
From "Between the World and Me" by Ta-Nehisi Coates
Some might find it humanizing—proof that below the bloviating gestalt, the president can become awed by existential futility.
From Slate ● Jun. 11, 2026
But it was a chance to capture the imaginations of new generations of future space explorers, while also calling back to the one-giant-step-for-mankind sense of awed enormity that characterized the 20th-century Space Race.
From Salon ● Apr. 25, 2026
Mozart Maxon, then a consultant for India’s National Disaster Management Authority, was awed when he saw the lake for the first time.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Apr. 1, 2026
Long before the luminescent spectacle awed viewers of Disney’s 2010 film “Tangled,” real-life lantern festivals have been taking place around the world.
From Los Angeles Times ● May 16, 2025
I was awed for a second, goose bumps rippling down my skin.
From "From Twinkle, with Love" by Sandhya Menon
He has a unique capacity for memorizing data that he frequently recites, awing listeners.
From Los Angeles Times ● Mar. 20, 2023
Holmgren stole the show as a soloist at times, swatting shots, swooping for dunks and awing the crowd with his agility.
From Seattle Times ● Nov. 23, 2021
Inside the Sistine Chapel, where in the past I have been shoved and elbowed by the crowds, about 30 spectators were awing over Perugino’s frescoes and craning to see Michelangelo’s burly musclemen on the ceiling.
From New York Times ● Jun. 25, 2021
In one space as awing as any I saw on my underground weekend, the 14 of us walked into a veritable canyon, with a natural vaulted ceiling.
From Washington Post ● Sep. 26, 2019
The old alchemist was a secretive and pretentious person and used to invent queer names for the purpose of mystifying and awing the ignorant.
From Creative Chemistry Descriptive of Recent Achievements in the Chemical Industries by Slosson, Edwin E.
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
