| Adj. | 1. | awful - 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" |
| 2. | awful - 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"Synonyms: direful, dread, dreaded, dreadful, fearful, fearsome, frightening, horrendous, terrible, dire, horrific |
| 3. | awful - 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 |
| 4. | awful - inspired by a feeling of fearful wonderment or reverence; "awed by the silence"; "awful worshippers with bowed heads" |
| 5. | awful - 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" |
| Adv. | 1. | awful - used as intensifiers; "terribly interesting"; "I'm awful sorry" |