awful
/ˈoːfəl/
Word Rarity
Uncommon
Frequency: 4.46 in modern English
11
Scrabble Score
5
Letters
2
Syllables
5
Unique Chars
Meaning
adj
Very bad.
adj
Example Sentences
- "The smell of my socks is awful."
- "We saw such an awful film last night that we left the theater before the end."
- "I have learnt an awful amount today."
- "Shepard: You seem to know an awful lot about me. Geth: Extranet data sources. Insecure broadcasts. All organic data sent out is received. We watch you."
- "“[…] I cook a lot. I make an awful lot of food. Jason thinks I must be cooking for an army sometimes,” she says, […]"
- "There was an air of gravity and importance about the garb of the person, and something indescribably odd, I might say awful, in the perfect, stonelike stillness of the figure, that effectually checked the testy comment which had at once risen to the lips of the irritated artist."
Etymology
From Middle English agheful, awfull, auful, aȝefull, equivalent to awe + -ful. Compare Old English eġeful, eġefull (“terrifying; awful”). The “very bad” sense is a pejorative semantic shift from the original sense of “awe-inspiring”.
Origin
Word Breakdown
Regional Pronunciation
- American English: /ˈoːfəl/
- British English: /ˈɔːfʊl/
Usage
- Dated
- Archaic
- Obsolete
- Colloquial
- Canadian usage
- American usage
- Derogatory
Inflected Forms
awfuller (comparative)
more awful (comparative)
awfullest (superlative)
most awful (superlative)
awfull (alternative, archaic)
aweful (alternative, obsolete)
awefull (alternative, obsolete)
AWFULs (plural)