awful
Americanadjective
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extremely bad; unpleasant; ugly.
awful paintings; an awful job.
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inspiring fear; dreadful; terrible.
an awful noise.
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solemnly impressive; inspiring awe.
the awful majesty of alpine peaks.
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full of awe; reverential.
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extremely dangerous, risky, injurious, etc..
That was an awful fall she had. He took an awful chance by driving here so fast.
adverb
adjective
-
very bad; unpleasant
-
archaic inspiring reverence or dread
-
archaic overcome with awe; reverential
adverb
Commonly Confused
Although some object to any use of awful or awfully in any sense not connected with a feeling of awe, both have been used in other senses for several centuries. Awful and awfully as adverbial intensifiers— awful ( ly ) hot; awful ( ly ) cold —appear in the early 19th century, following much the same pattern as horribly and dreadfully. As an adverb awful is less formal in tone than awfully. In the sense “inspiring awe or fear” awesome has largely replaced awful.
Other Word Forms
- awfulness noun
- quasi-awful adjective
- quasi-awfully adverb
- unawful adjective
- unawfulness noun
Etymology
Origin of awful
First recorded in 1200–50; Middle English a(g)heful, aueful; awe + -ful; replacing Old English egefull “dreadful”
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.
Efforts to wring laughs out of a genuinely awful situation yield only a few uncomfortable chuckles, such as when Charlie and Emma strike some warmup poses for a wedding photographer during an impromptu session.
From The Wall Street Journal • Apr. 2, 2026
It wasn’t until the #MeToo movement that she saw it for the awful episode it was.
From The Wall Street Journal • Mar. 30, 2026
"It's awful and you feel naked and open to attack because you worry about being rejected and maybe sometimes that will happen but when it doesn't that's where intimacy and close relationships start to grow."
From BBC • Mar. 29, 2026
Chavez Ravine is now officially known as Uniqlo Field at Dodger Stadium and, yeah, on Thursday it was awful hearing public address announcer Todd Leitz introduce it like that.
From Los Angeles Times • Mar. 26, 2026
“They are the only ones big enough and awful enough to plan something like this.”
From "Glitch" by Laura Martin
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.
