awful

Examples

• All

• What a beautiful and awful thing a storm can be.

  Blog text (2)

• Alfred was silent, eyes staring out at the awful panorama.

  Fiction book (1991)

• Against our will comes wisdom through the awful grace of God.

• Awful hand of fate that has dealt us these cards.

  The Comeback Trail (2020)

• I will have had my nights in the mists of time, in its awful obscurity.

  Academic text (1998)

• The cave was magnificent—magnificent and awful at the same time.

  Fiction book (2000)

• Oblivious to mundane detail, he lives not in time but in eternity, ceaselessly driven by an "awful sense of duty."

  Academic text (2003)

• And we mourned again one awful morning when Gladys died and left Wilbur bereft.

  Academic text (2006)

• Then the constellations hang in the awful vault of darkness like enormous gleaming lamps trembling in suspension.

  Blog text (22)

• Against our will comes wisdom through the awful grace of God.

Synonyms

A

amazing

vsawful

∞ 1.0

Causing great surprise and admiration

emphasizes reverent awe in an older formal sense rather than surprise

A

awesome

vsawful

968 2.1

Very impressive and causing a strong feeling of wonder

is the older term that leans more toward solemn reverence

A

awe-inspiring

vsawful

16 5.6

Causes people to feel great respect and wonder because it is very impressive

expresses reverence in an older more formal style

A

astonishing

vsawful

5 3.4

Very surprising and making you feel great wonder

focuses on reverent solemn wonder rather than sudden surprise

G

godawful

vsawful

• Archaic

9.9

Impressive and frightening because of great size or power

is archaic and focuses on solemn wonder rather than modern praise

A

awing

vsawful

8.3

Causing great respect and wonder

uses the same sense but appears in archaic wording and tone

Antonyms

O

ordinary

683 1.0

Normal and not special or unusual

U

unimpressive

9 3.9

Not very good or likely to attract attention

How Awe-Inspiring

awful

• Archaic

12 9.9

awesome

968 2.1

remarkable

588 2.8

impressive

584 3.4

Surface Forms

Morphology

Etymology