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:
Even at the lowest point of a wind turbine, Witek expresses his awe at "the feeling of freedom" compared to the fourteen years he spent at the bottom of a mine.
From Barron's ● Jul. 17, 2026
And by inspiring simultaneous awe over good corporate citizenship and 72-pound wheels of Parmigiano reggiano, Costco seems to be one of the few entities with the cachet and mass appeal to break through.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jul. 13, 2026
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
Folk from these parts gawping and filming their visitors in awe.
From BBC ● Jun. 20, 2026
He was the one she and Jabir had first encountered when they’d approached the stable; now he was staring at her with a mix of awe and horror.
From "Beasts of Prey" by Ayana Gray
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
She keeps on killing—at cocktail parties and dive bars, even at a Washington Square rally, where she awes Jane Jacobs with a speech about how women “accessorize” the world, as a multiethnic crowd cheers.
From The New Yorker ● Dec. 11, 2018
There is an innocence in him that I have found merely foreign and foolish; yet in another moment that seeming innocence reveals a discipline of knowledge and a largeness of purpose that awes me.
From "The Left Hand of Darkness" by Ursula K. Le Guin
It’s only humans who have attached words like “wild” and “unexplored” to regions where they feel uncertain, afraid, and even awed.
From Los Angeles Times ● Jul. 2, 2026
Some might find it humanizing—proof that below the bloviating gestalt, the president can become awed by existential futility.
From Slate ● Jun. 11, 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
His shock-and-awe campaign has been theatrical, but I’m neither shocked nor awed.
From Salon ● Mar. 11, 2025
"I say," said Shasta in an awed voice.
From "The Horse and His Boy" by C.S. Lewis
He has a unique capacity for memorizing data that he frequently recites, awing listeners.
From Los Angeles Times ● Mar. 20, 2023
Doing the things only she can do, awing her peers while trying to silence her inner critic in the process.
From Seattle Times ● May 20, 2021
The idea is to terrify the enemy: the effect will be to petrify ourselves, shocking and awing us into understanding the full implications of no deal.
From The Guardian ● Jul. 29, 2019
Yes, he was going to retaliate, but in interest of awing tensions, they chose do do nothing , but wait.
From New York Times ● Jan. 30, 2018
It was not fear that seemed to clutch at their hearts and make them pound, or that struck them silent, it was an awing sense of something supernatural, something not quite real.
From The Boy Scouts of the Air in Indian Land by Stuart, Gordon
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.
