awful
Americanadjective
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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.
"It was awful. Freezing and then we were stuck because I couldn't climb back up and hold her at the same time."
From BBC
Rangers have an awful lot of work to do, but they are at least pointing in the right direction.
From BBC
"It can be good bits, and then it can be awful bits and aggressive bits and upsetting bits. And that's just what the Tourette's does. It's nasty."
From BBC
It’s an awful, protracted sequence that begs the question, satire or not, is this truly the funniest bit they could hatch?
From Los Angeles Times
"Almost everything in that video is egregious, and awful to listen to," Dr Read, a seasoned professor of theatre with no connection to politics, told the BBC.
From BBC
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.
