Awful
['ɔːfʊl] or ['ɔfl]
Definition
(adj.) 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' .
Inputed by Eunice--From WordNet
Definition
(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.
Checked by Hillel
Synonyms and Synonymous
a. [1]. Venerable, august, grand, stately, imposing, solemn, majestic.[2]. Dread, dreadful, fearful, horrible, horrid, terrible, dire, direful, frightful, appalling, tremendous.[3]. [Vulgar.] Ugly, homely, unsightly, ill-looking.
Edited by Jimmy
Synonyms and Antonyms
SYN:Fearful, direful, appalling, terrible, alarming, dreadful, horrible, solemn,portentous, horrific
ANT:Inocuous, informidable, unimposing, unastonishing, commonplace, unnoticeable,unalarming, alluring
Typed by Alphonse
Examples
- Why, George, this state of mind is awful; it's getting really desperate George. Harriet Beecher Stowe. Uncle Tom's Cabin.
- It's awful dirty. Ernest Hemingway. A Farewell To Arms.
- It was an awful existence. William Makepeace Thackeray. Vanity Fair.
- Having had his face put under the pump, and dried upon Mrs. Mann's gown, he was led into the awful presence of Mr. Bumble, the beadle. Charles Dickens. Oliver Twist.
- As the smoke cleared, leaving an awful stillness, it passed out on the air, like the soul of the furious woman whose body lay lifeless on the ground. Charles Dickens. A Tale of Two Cities.
- Why not secrete her there until I could return and fetch her away in safety and for ever from this awful place. Edgar Rice Burroughs. The Gods of Mars.
- There remained this way, this awful African process, to be fulfilled. D. H. Lawrence. Women in Love .
- There is something even awful in the nearness it brings. George Eliot. Middlemarch.
- Then she was dragged toward those awful fangs which yawned at her throat. Edgar Rice Burroughs. Tarzan of the Apes.
- Meantime, Mr. Rochester affirmed I was wearing him to skin and bone, and threatened awful vengeance for my present conduct at some period fast coming. Charlotte Bronte. Jane Eyre.
- This awful revolution, wrote Gibbon of the Western collapse, may be usefully applied to the useful instruction of the present age. H. G. Wells. The Outline of History_Being a Plain History of Life and Mankind.
- That unconscious appeal, so touching and so awful in the sacredness of her sleep, ran through me like fire. Wilkie Collins. The Woman in White.
- It must be awful to be sleepless--everything stands by the bed and stares---- Miss Farish caught her straying hands. Edith Wharton. The House of Mirth.
- From the side where I now stood Montanvert was exactly opposite, at the distance of a league; and above it rose Mont Bl?nc, in awful majesty. Mary Shelley. Frankenstein_Or_The Modern Prometheus.
- There was a moment of awful suspense as the procession waited for the Honourable Samuel Slumkey to step into his carriage. Charles Dickens. The Pickwick Papers.
- It is impossible for me to write the awful word, which is here represented by a blank. Wilkie Collins. The Moonstone.
- My name, said he, is John Openshaw, but my own affairs have, as far as I can understand, little to do with this awful business. Arthur Conan Doyle. The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes.
- I was awful nigh bursting out a laughing though, when it made John stare! Charles Dickens. Our Mutual Friend.
- Oh, Lily, what an awful life you'll lead! Edith Wharton. The House of Mirth.
- Let me die, dear Lord, don't let me see that awful face again. Edgar Rice Burroughs. Tarzan of the Apes.
- Before I could overtake him he had sprung to the rail and hurled himself headforemost into the awful depths below. Edgar Rice Burroughs. The Gods of Mars.
- The last of the evening light was fading away; and over all the desolate place there hung a still and awful calm. Wilkie Collins. The Moonstone.
- Except for the awful thing you've gotten into. Ernest Hemingway. A Farewell To Arms.
- Some patriarchs wore awful turbans, but the grand mass of the infidel horde wore the fiery red skull-cap they call a fez. Mark Twain. The Innocents Abroad.
- In a strange uplift of elation she saw him, the being never to be revealed, awful in its potency, mystic and real. D. H. Lawrence. Women in Love .
- I traveled with awful velocity for my errand was a race against time with death. Edgar Rice Burroughs. A Princess of Mars.
- Those last four boys were awful. Ernest Hemingway. A Farewell To Arms.
- My De-ar, this is becoming Awful--' her father was emphatically beginning: when she stopped him. Charles Dickens. Our Mutual Friend.
- Oh, how awful! Edgar Rice Burroughs. Tarzan of the Apes.
- Awful crimes, no doubt; but he did not tell me what: there, you knowthe seal of the confessional checked his garrulity, and my curiosity. Charlotte Bronte. Villette.
Typed by Alphonse