George Eliot
Using Awful as an Adjective and Adverb: Usage Guide
Some grammarians take issue with the senses of awful and awfully that do not convey the etymological connection with awe. However, senses 1 and 2 of the adjective were being used in speech and casual writing by the late 18th century.
John Keats (letter)
Sir Walter Scott (letter)
William Blake
Adverbial use of awful as an intensifier began to appear in print in the early 19th century, as did the senses of awfully corresponding to senses 1 and 2 of the adjective. Awfully continues to enjoy widespread use in newspapers and the like.
James P. Rubin
Rod Dreher
The adverb awful, on the other hand, is largely restricted to informal prose and to the spoken language it emulates and is chiefly an American use.
Kenneth Feinberg
Mike Sutter
George Geise
Synonyms
Adjective
- abhorrent
- abominable
- appalling
- disgusting
- distasteful
- dreadful
- evil
- foul
- fulsome
- gross
- hideous
- horrendous
- horrible
- horrid
- loathsome
- nasty
- nauseating
- nauseous
- noisome
- noxious
- obnoxious
- obscene
- odious
- offensive
- rancid
- repellent
- repellant
- repugnant
- repulsive
- revolting
- scandalous
- shocking
- sickening
- ugly
Adverb
- achingly
- almighty
- archly
- awfully
- badly
- beastly
- blisteringly
- bone
- colossally
- corking
- cracking
- damn
- damned
- dang
- deadly
- desperately
- eminently
- enormously
- especially
- ever
- exceedingly
- exceeding
- extra
- extremely
- fabulously
- fantastically
- far
- fiercely
- filthy
- frightfully
- full
- greatly
- heavily
- highly
- hugely
- immensely
- incredibly
- intensely
- jolly
- majorly
- mightily
- mighty
- monstrous [chiefly dialect]
- mortally
- most
- much
- particularly
- passing
- rattling
- real
- really
- right
- roaring
- roaringly
- seriously
- severely
- so
- sore
- sorely
- spanking
- specially
- stinking
- such
- super
- supremely
- surpassingly
- terribly
- that
- thumping
- too
- unco
- uncommonly
- vastly
- very
- vitally
- way
- whacking
- wicked
- wildly
Examples of awful in a Sentence
Matt Brennan, Los Angeles Times, 8 Apr. 2024
The episode ended with the whole gang on a flight back to L.A., featuring Susie opening her window shade on the plane and getting in a fight with the regular cast and crew about the awful glare.
—Gillian Telling, Peoplemag, 8 Apr. 2024
The thought of ditching airlines, with their awful customer service and addictive loyalty programs, may be the greatest promise of the AAV revolution.
—Christopher Elliott, USA TODAY, 5 Apr. 2024
Chronic pain can be awful, so people are very motivated to find pain relief by any means.
—Ed Cara / Gizmodo, Quartz, 2 Apr. 2024
The First Amendment gives everyone leeway to say many crazy, awful, violent things but not to do most of them.
—Sarah Larson, The New Yorker, 2 Apr. 2024
Great image for an iconic series, awful choice for a fictional self-destructive leading man.
—Julie Hinds, Detroit Free Press, 31 Mar. 2024
There are plenty of reasons to savor the original movie, most of them having to do with the casting, some of it campy and awful in a truly wonderful way, some just plain spectacular.
—Brian Lowry, CNN, 27 Mar. 2024
Before this week Brazil were in awful form and decided to part ways with ex-boss Fernando Diniz.
—Joseph O'Sullivan, Forbes, 27 Mar. 2024
Dom Amore, Hartford Courant, 26 May 2022
First, there is the question whether the awful-looking restraint maneuver Chauvin used was actually authorized at the time, or at least not clearly forbidden.
—D.j. Tice, Star Tribune, 20 Feb. 2021
The following day, Gonzalez was back at the testing site, helping patients — many of whom had fevers and awful-sounding coughs — fill out their paperwork.
—Karen Ann Cullotta, chicagotribune.com, 2 Oct. 2020
These examples are programmatically compiled from various online sources to illustrate current usage of the word 'awful.' Any opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback about these examples.
Dictionary Entries Near awful
Cite this Entry
“Awful.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/awful. Accessed 18 Apr. 2024.
Copy CitationKids Definition
awful
1 of 2 adjective
awful
2 of 2 adverb
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