Dictionary Definition
awful adj
1 exceptionally bad or displeasing; "atrocious
taste"; "abominable workmanship"; "an awful voice"; "dreadful
manners"; "a painful performance"; "terrible handwriting"; "an
unspeakable odor came sweeping into the room" [syn: atrocious, abominable, dreadful, painful, terrible, unspeakable]
2 causing fear or dread or terror; "the awful
war"; "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" [syn: dire, direful, dread(a), dreaded, dreadful, fearful, fearsome, frightening, horrendous, horrific, terrible]
3 offensive or even (of persons) malicious; "in a
nasty mood"; "a nasty accident"; "a nasty shock"; "a nasty smell";
"a nasty trick to pull"; "Will he say nasty things at my funeral?"-
Ezra Pound [syn: nasty]
[ant: nice]
4 inspired by a feeling of fearful wonderment or
reverence; "awed by the silence"; "awful worshippers with bowed
heads" [syn: awed]
5 inspiring awe or admiration or wonder; "New
York is an amazing city"; "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"-
Melville; "Westminster Hall's awing majesty, so vast, so high, so
silent" [syn: amazing,
awe-inspiring,
awesome, awing] adv : used as intensifiers;
"terribly interesting"; "I'm awful sorry" [syn: terribly, awfully, frightfully]
User Contributed Dictionary
English
Pronunciation
- Rhymes with: -ɔːfəl
Adjective
- Oppressing with fear or horror; appalling; terrible; as, an awful scene.
- Inspiring awe; filling with profound reverence, or with fear and admiration; fitted to inspire reverential fear; profoundly impressive.
- Struck or filled with awe; terror-stricken.
- Worshipful; reverential; law-abiding.
- Great; exceedingly good or bad; applied intensively; as, an awful bonnet, I have learnt an awful amount today.
Translations
awful
Extensive Definition
Awful means extremely bad or unpleasant
Awful may also mean:
- "Awful" (song), a 1999 single by the band Hole
- Awful Orphan, a 1949 cartoon
- Awful Gardner, a notorious gambler
- Awful End, a 2002 children's novel
- "Awful, Beautiful Life", a song by Darryl Worley
- Awful Mess Mystery, a Wolfie album
- The Awful Din, a character from The Phantom tollbooth
- The Awful Truth, a 1937 comedy
- Something Awful, a comedy website
See also
Synonyms, Antonyms and Related Words
Babylonian, Corinthian, abominable, appalling, arrant, astounding, atrocious, august, awe-inspiring, awesome, awfully, awing, bad, baneful, barbaric, base, beastly, beneath contempt,
big, bizarre, blameworthy, brutal, contemptible, crazy, damned, deadly, deluxe, deplorable, despicable, detestable, dire, direful, disgusting, divine, dread, dreaded, dreadful, eerie, egregious, elaborate, elegant, enormous, estimable, execrable, extravagant, extremely, fancy, fearful, fell, fetid, filthy, fine, flagrant, forbidding, formidable, foul, frightful, fulsome, ghastly, ghoulish, glorious, grand, grandiose, grave, greatly, grievous, grim, grisly, gross, grotesque, gruesome, hateful, heavenly, heinous, hideous, holy, honorable, horrendous, horrible, horrid, horrific, horrifying, howling, hugely, imposing, impressive, ineffable, inenarrable, inexpressible, infamous, inferior, inviolable, inviolate, lamentable, loathsome, lousy, luxurious, macabre, magnificent, majestic, monstrous, morbid, mortally, moving, much, mysterious, nasty, nefarious, noble, noisome, notorious, numinous, obnoxious, odious, offensive, ominous, outrageous, palatial, pitiable, pitiful, plush, portentous, posh, princely, proud, rank, redoubtable, regrettable, religious, repelling, reprehensible, repugnant, repulsive, reverend, revolting, ritzy, rotten, rousing, sacred, sacrosanct, sad, scandalous, schlock, schrecklich, scurvy, serious, shabby, shameful, shocking, shoddy, solemn, sordid, spiritual, splendacious, splendid, splendiferous, squalid, stately, sumptuous, superb, superfancy, superfine, swank, swanky, swell, tasteless, terrible, terribly, terrific, thumping, time-honored, too
bad, tragic, tremendous, ugly, uncanny, unclean, unpleasant, unsightly, unspeakable, untouchable, unutterable, venerable, vile, villainous, weird, whacking, whopping, woeful, worshipful, worst, worthless, wretched