awful
Americanadjective
-
extremely bad; unpleasant; ugly.
awful paintings; an awful job.
-
inspiring fear; dreadful; terrible.
an awful noise.
-
solemnly impressive; inspiring awe.
the awful majesty of alpine peaks.
-
full of awe; reverential.
-
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.
LaShirl Smith, a representative for Shepard, confirmed her client’s death, writing in an Instagram post Tuesday that the loss “hurts an awful lot.”
From Los Angeles Times
She was getting awful hard to live with.
From Literature
Wolf squirmed and licked Torak’s chin and told him how awful it had been, all at once.
From Literature
To plead, to argue, anything to fill up the awful silence and release the agitation building in me.
From Literature
“Let’s give it a few minutes and see if she comes back on her own. It’s an awful situation, obviously, and—and my flapjacks are very good, does anyone want to try one?”
From Literature
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.
