awful

awful
awful
1. There are two main stages in the development of this word from its primary meaning (which goes back to the time of King Alfred) of ‘inspiring awe’. First, from about 1800 it came to mean ‘very bad’ (as in awful weather, an awful time); then gradually it was reduced further in force to take on the role of a catch-all intensifier deriving its sense from the context (with positive connotations in some cases, notably an awful lot). It has also served as an adverb meaning the same as awfully, i.e. little more than ‘very’

• (It is an awful lovely place —Dickens, 1844)

but this use is non-standard in current English.
2. The corresponding adverb awfully has followed the same route, and now means little more than ‘very’ (as in awfully kind of you). All these uses are best restricted to spoken or casual written English and should be avoided in more formal contexts.

Modern English usage. 2014.

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Synonyms:
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Look at other dictionaries:

  • Awful — means extremely bad, unpleasant, or terrible; also amazing, full of awe, awe inspiring, awesome 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 …   Wikipedia

  • Awful — Aw ful, a. 1. Oppressing with fear or horror; appalling; terrible; as, an awful scene. The hour of Nature s awful throes. Hemans. [1913 Webster] 2. Inspiring awe; filling with profound reverence, or with fear and admiration; fitted to inspire… …   The Collaborative International Dictionary of English

  • Awful — «Awful» Single de Hole del álbum Celebrity Skin Formato CD, 7 Grabación 1998 Género(s) Rock alternativo , power pop …   Wikipedia Español

  • awful — [ô′fəl] adj. [ME awful, agheful: see AWE & FUL] 1. inspiring awe; highly impressive 2. causing fear; terrifying 3. dreadful; appalling 4. full of awe; reverential 5. very bad, ugly, unpleasant, etc …   English World dictionary

  • awful — ► ADJECTIVE 1) very bad or unpleasant. 2) used for emphasis: an awful lot. 3) archaic inspiring awe. DERIVATIVES awfulness noun …   English terms dictionary

  • awful — index dire, heinous, lamentable Burton s Legal Thesaurus. William C. Burton. 2006 …   Law dictionary

  • awful — (adj.) c.1300, agheful worthy of respect or fear, from aghe, an earlier form of AWE (Cf. awe), + FUL (Cf. ful). Replaced O.E. egefull. Weakened sense very bad is from 1809; weakened sense of exceedingly is by 1818 …   Etymology dictionary

  • awful — *fearful, dreadful, frightful, terrible, horrible, shocking, appalling, terrific, horrific Analogous words: impressive, *moving: solemn, *serious, grave: imposing, august, majestic (see GRAND): sublime, superb, *splendid: *ominous …   New Dictionary of Synonyms

  • awful — [adj] very bad; terrible abominable, alarming, appalling, atrocious, deplorable, depressing, dire, disgusting, distressing, dreadful, fearful, frightful, ghastly, grody*, gross*, gruesome, grungy*, harrowing, hideous, horrendous, horrible,… …   New thesaurus

  • awful — aw|ful1 [ ɔfl ] adjective ** used for emphasizing how unpleasant someone or something is: TERRIBLE: The smell was absolutely awful. This wine tastes awful. He had the awful feeling that everyone was laughing at him. There were these awful people… …   Usage of the words and phrases in modern English

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