What does Awful mean?

Definitions for Awful
ˈɔ fəlAw·ful

Here are all the possible meanings and translations of the word Awful.

Princeton's WordNet

  1. atrocious, abominable, awful, dreadful, painful, terrible, unspeakable(adj)

    exceptionally bad or displeasing



    causing fear or dread or terror


  3. nasty, awful(adj)

    offensive or even (of persons) malicious


  4. awed, awful(adj)

    inspired by a feeling of fearful wonderment or reverence


  5. frightful, terrible, awful, tremendous(adj)

    extreme in degree or extent or amount or impact


  6. amazing, awe-inspiring, awesome, awful, awing(adverb)

    inspiring awe or admiration or wonder


  7. terribly, awfully, awful, frightfully(adverb)

    used as intensifiers

    "terribly interesting"; "I'm awful sorry"


  1. awful(Adverb)

    Very, extremely; as, an awful big house.

  2. awful(Adjective)

    Oppressing with fear or horror; appalling, terrible.

  3. awful(Adjective)

    Inspiring awe; filling with profound reverence or respect; profoundly impressive.

  4. awful(Adjective)

    Struck or filled with awe.

  5. awful(Adjective)


  6. awful(Adjective)

    Worshipful; reverential; law-abiding.

  7. awful(Adjective)

    Exceedingly great; usually applied intensively.

  8. awful(Adjective)

    Very bad.

    My socks smell awful.

Webster Dictionary

  1. Awful(adj)

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

  2. Awful(adj)

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

  3. Awful(adj)

    struck or filled with awe; terror-stricken

  4. Awful(adj)

    worshipful; reverential; law-abiding

  5. Awful(adj)

    frightful; exceedingly bad; great; -- applied intensively; as, an awful bonnet; an awful boaster


  1. Awful

    "Awful" is the twelfth single, and also third EP, by American alternative rock band Hole, from their third studio album Celebrity Skin. Released in April 1999 by Geffen Records as a CD single, the song's lyrics explore how the media and modern pop culture corrupt young girls and how they should rebel against this. The line "swing low, sweet cherry" in the song is an allusion to the African American spiritual hymn, "Swing Low, Sweet Chariot".

Editors Contribution

  1. awful

    very bad, horrible

    This year has been awful.

    Submitted by anonymous on May 2, 2019  

British National Corpus

  1. Spoken Corpus Frequency

    Rank popularity for the word 'Awful' in Spoken Corpus Frequency: #4137

  2. Written Corpus Frequency

    Rank popularity for the word 'Awful' in Written Corpus Frequency: #873

  3. Adjectives Frequency

    Rank popularity for the word 'Awful' in Adjectives Frequency: #431

How to say Awful in sign language?

  1. awful


  1. Chaldean Numerology

    The numerical value of Awful in Chaldean Numerology is: 6

  2. Pythagorean Numerology

    The numerical value of Awful in Pythagorean Numerology is: 9

Examples of Awful in a Sentence

  1. Matt Zeller:

    This bill is awful.

  2. Tom Bateman:

    Holy s***, it's awful.

  3. Louisiana GOP Rep. Garret Graves:

    It’s just an awful tragedy.

  4. The President:

    It's awful, it's really awful.

  5. Aimee Wriglesworth:

    It was long and painful and awful.

Images & Illustrations of Awful

  1. AwfulAwfulAwful

Popularity rank by frequency of use


Translations for Awful

From our Multilingual Translation Dictionary

Get even more translations for Awful »


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