awful

[Aw·ful]

Describe something that is exceptionally bad as awful, but be careful: Saying your mom's cooking is awful may be truthful, but it's also likely to get you a frying pan upside the head.

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Oppressing with fear or horror; appalling; terrible; as, an awful scene.

Adjective S.
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"; "

Adjective S.
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"

Adjective S.
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; "We

Adjective
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

Adjective S.
inspired by a feeling of fearful wonderment or reverence; "awed by the silence"; "awful worshippers with bowed heads"

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Adverb
used as intensifiers; "terribly interesting"; "I''m awful sorry"


a.
Oppressing with fear or horror; appalling; terrible; as, an awful scene.

a.
Inspiring awe; filling with profound reverence, or with fear and admiration; fitted to inspire reverential fear; profoundly impressive.

a.
Struck or filled with awe; terror-stricken.

a.
Worshipful; reverential; law-abiding.

a.
Frightful; exceedingly bad; great; -- applied intensively; as, an awful bonnet; an awful boaster.


Awful

Aw"ful , a. 1. Oppressing with fear or horror; appalling; terrible; as, an awful scene. "The hour of Nature's awful throes." Hemans. 2. Inspiring awe; filling with profound reverence, or with fear and admiration; fitted to inspire reverential fear; profoundly impressive.
Heaven's awful Monarch.
3. Struck or filled with awe; terror-stricken. [Obs.]
A weak and awful reverence for antiquity.
4. Worshipful; reverential; law-abiding. [Obs.]
Thrust from the company of awful men.
5. Frightful; exceedingly bad; great; -- applied intensively; as, an awful bonnet; an awful boaster. [Slang] Syn. -- See Frightful.

Oppressing with fear or horror; appalling; terrible; as, an awful scene.

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Usage Examples

Every child senses, with all the horse sense that's in him, that any parent is angry inside when children misbehave and they dread more the anger that is rarely or never expressed openly, wondering how awful it might be.

Death is an endless night so awful to contemplate that it can make us love life and value it with such passion that it may be the ultimate cause of all joy and all art.

I don't like Los Angeles. The people are awful and terribly shallow, and everybody wants to be famous but nobody wants to play the game. I'm from New York. I will kill to get what I need.

Being a funny person does an awful lot of things to you. You feel that you mustn't get serious with people. They don't expect it from you, and they don't want to see it. You're not entitled to be serious, you're a clown.

He who learns must suffer. And even in our sleep pain that cannot forget falls drop by drop upon the heart, and in our own despair, against our will, comes wisdom to us by the awful grace of God.

I made some truly awful movies. 'Stop! Or My Mom Will Shoot' was the worst. If you ever want someone to confess to murder just make him or her sit through that film. They will confess to anything after 15 minutes.

I had some money, I made the best paintings ever. I was completely reclusive, worked a lot, took a lot of drugs. I was awful to people.

I open with a clock striking, to beget an awful attention in the audience - it also marks the time, which is four o clock in the morning, and saves a description of the rising sun, and a great deal about gilding the eastern hemisphere.

Misspelled Form

awful, qawful, wawful, sawful, zawful, qwful, wwful, swful, zwful, aqwful, awwful, aswful, azwful, aqwful, a2wful, a3wful, aewful, aawful, aswful, aqful, a2ful, a3ful, aeful, aaful, asful, awqful, aw2ful, aw3ful, aweful, awaful, awsful, awdful, awrful, awtful, awgful, awvful, awcful, awdul, awrul, awtul, awgul, awvul, awcul, awfdul, awfrul, awftul, awfgul, awfvul, awfcul, awfyul, awf7ul, awf8ul, awfiul, awfjul, awfyl, awf7l, awf8l, awfil, awfjl, awfuyl, awfu7l, awfu8l, awfuil, awfujl, awfukl, awfuol, awfupl, awfu:l, awfuk, awfuo, awfup, awfu:, awfulk, awfulo, awfulp, awful:.

Other Usage Examples

I started playing poker in 2003 during my pregnancy, to distract myself from my awful morning sickness. For months all I did was cry and play Texas Hold'em.

Bill Hanna and I owe an awful lot to television, but we both got our start and built the first phase of our partnership in the movies.

Everyone wants to demagogue everyone else. That may be good politics, but it's awful policy.

After I left the convent, for 15 years I was worn out with religion, I wanted nothing whatever to do with it. I felt disgusted with it. If I saw someone reading a religious book on a train, I'd think, how awful.

I haven't seen a player in this game, as long as I've been in it, that can't be pitched to... Barry is an outstanding ballplayer. I respect him an awful lot. I also have confidence in my pitchers that they can pitch to Barry Bonds and get him out.

I respect the game that goes on of putting this against that, but I don't respect, nor do I enjoy, an awful lot of the actual programs that go on the air.

Bob summed it up best when he was on his knees at the end of the night saying, 'Don't trust in Guided By Voices.' You were there was the show awful or something? I know it was sloppy, but they're not really that tight anyway, but was it embarrassing, was it sad?

An awful lot of successful technology companies ended up being in a slightly different market than they started out in.

Even now I can't trust life. It did too many awful things to me as a kid.

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