Awful

Aw"ful, a.

1. Oppressing with fear or horror; appalling; terrible; as, an awful scene. "The hour of Nature's awful throes." Hemans.

2. Inspiring awe; filling with profound reverence, or with fear and admiration; fitted to inspire reverential fear; profoundly impressive. Heaven's awful Monarch. Milton.

3. Struck or filled with awe; terror-stricken. [Obs.] A weak and awful reverence for antiquity. I. Watts.

4. Worshipful; reverential; law-abiding. [Obs.] Thrust from the company of awful men. Shak.

5. Frightful; exceedingly bad; great; -- applied intensively; as, an awful bonnet; an awful boaster. [Slang]

Syn.

-- See Frightful.