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Awful   /ˈɑfəl/  /ˈɔfəl/   Listen
Awful

adjective
1.
Exceptionally bad or displeasing.  Synonyms: abominable, atrocious, dreadful, painful, terrible, unspeakable.  "Abominable workmanship" , "An awful voice" , "Dreadful manners" , "A painful performance" , "Terrible handwriting" , "An unspeakable odor came sweeping into the room"
2.
Causing fear or dread or terror.  Synonyms: dire, direful, dread, dreaded, dreadful, fearful, fearsome, frightening, horrendous, horrific, terrible.  "An awful risk" , "Dire news" , "A career or vengeance so direful that London was shocked" , "The dread presence of the headmaster" , "Polio is no longer the dreaded disease it once was" , "A dreadful storm" , "A fearful howling" , "Horrendous explosions shook the city" , "A terrible curse"
3.
Offensive or even (of persons) malicious.  Synonym: nasty.  "A nasty accident" , "A nasty shock" , "A nasty smell" , "A nasty trick to pull" , "Will he say nasty things at my funeral?"
4.
Inspired by a feeling of fearful wonderment or reverence.  Synonym: awed.  "Awful worshippers with bowed heads"
5.
Extreme in degree or extent or amount or impact.  Synonyms: frightful, terrible, tremendous.  "Spent a frightful amount of money"
6.
Inspiring awe or admiration or wonder.  Synonyms: amazing, awe-inspiring, awesome, awing.  "The Grand Canyon is an awe-inspiring sight" , "The awesome complexity of the universe" , "This sea, whose gently awful stirrings seem to speak of some hidden soul beneath" , "Westminster Hall's awing majesty, so vast, so high, so silent"
adverb
1.
Used as intensifiers.  Synonyms: awfully, frightfully, terribly.  "I'm awful sorry"



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"Awful" Quotes from Famous Books



... it," she ordered, handing him the bacon. Then, with a shudder, she added: "Must have been rather awful down there." ...
— The Highgrader • William MacLeod Raine
... simply awful, old chap," pursued Jack cheerily. "Where on earth have you been for the last month? I wrote to York and got ...
— None Other Gods • Robert Hugh Benson
... slaves? The truth was, we stopped the natural progress of civilization in Africa. We cut her off from the opportunity of improvement. We kept her down in a state of darkness, bondage, ignorance, and bloodshed. Was not this an awful consideration for this country? Look at the map of Africa, and see how little useful intercourse had been established on that vast continent! While other countries were assisting and enlightening each ...
— The History of the Rise, Progress and Accomplishment of the - Abolition of the African Slave-Trade, by the British Parliament (1839) • Thomas Clarkson
... moment she felt quite incapable of speaking intelligibly. Her mental vision conjured up a picture of her child in some terrible danger, and, in her anxiety, her mind refused to take in more than that one awful fact, overlooking for the time the circumstance of Bob having received an injury. The danger to which May had been exposed; that was all she thought about—all she could think about just then; and, until ...
— The Pirate Island - A Story of the South Pacific • Harry Collingwood
... followed by the cataract-like roar, and the high, thin seas, wheeling away beautifully crested with sparkling foam. If it is possible, imagine the effect upon the beholder: this precipice of ice, with tremendous cracking, is falling toward us with a majestic and awful motion. ...
— McGuffey's Fifth Eclectic Reader • William Holmes McGuffey


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