According to the American Heritage Dictionary, it can mean, "extremely bad or unpleasant", or it can mean, "filled with awe". Strange, huh?
2006-12-28 23:59:36 · 11 answers · asked by Anonymous in Education & Reference ➔ Words & Wordplay
I prefer cleave
which means to split apart and to bring together.
Try and wrap your head around THAT one
2006-12-29 00:28:46 · answer #1 · answered by Anonymous · 7⤊ 1⤋
Those are 2 different words. Awful means extremely bad or unpleasant. Aweful means filled with awe.
2006-12-29 00:07:10 · answer #2 · answered by JazzSinger 6 · 1⤊ 1⤋
You are correct that this word has two basic meanings. But when you look at how the two are related, and how other words have developed in a very similar way, it is not so very strange of unusual.
"Awful" is one of a set of words -- awful, terrible, horrible, dreadful. In their original sense these refer to things that produce awe (more in the negative sense of 'fear'), terror, horror, dread.
Examples:
awful - an old hymn title "Before Jehovah's Awful Throne" (now usually changed to "Awesome", though that is a slightly weaker word)
terrible - "his terrible, swift sword" (in The Battle Hymn of the Republic), "Ivan the Terrible"
Based on the fact that such experiences tend to be NEGATIVE, each of these words developed a secondary meaning something like 'very bad, very unpleasant'. This second,weaker meaning is more likely to be used in everyday speech, except perhaps in a few set expressions (such as "Ivan the Terrible") or contexts where the stronger meaning is clear (e.g., when talking about the horrors of war, death, etc).
Note too how we easily use words like "bad" to refer to things that are seriously wrong (great moral evils), or more loosely to things that aren't as we would like ("a bad day"). The same sort of thing is going on in the use of "awful", etc., to refer to something "unpleasant".
Compare the following dictionary entries:
http://www.thefreedictionary.com/awful
http://www.thefreedictionary.com/dreadful
http://www.thefreedictionary.com/horrible
http://www.thefreedictionary.com/terrible
2006-12-30 13:34:21 · answer #3 · answered by bruhaha 7 · 0⤊ 0⤋
Well, many words have different means depending upon the context, not just awful. This can be awful for people trying to learn the English language and I am awful that the English language is so versatile.
2006-12-29 00:10:28 · answer #4 · answered by zoolander 1 · 0⤊ 1⤋
It originally meant "filled with awe." Because things which inspired awe were usually pretty terrifying, it also came to mean very bad things.
2006-12-29 00:08:51 · answer #5 · answered by cross-stitch kelly 7 · 1⤊ 0⤋
awful
Definition:
1. extremely bad: very bad or unpleasant
an awful smell
2. causing shock or sadness: extremely shocking, saddening, or unpleasant
an awful accident
3. sick: in poor health
I feel awful this morning.
4. very great: enormous in size, amount, number, or extent ( informal )
We spent an awful lot of money on furniture.
5. awe-inspiring: so impressive as to inspire awe ( literary )
Definition:
extremely: to an extreme degree or extent ( informal )
It's awful hot this morning.
aw·ful·ness noun
2006-12-29 03:01:47 · answer #6 · answered by Grapy 2 · 0⤊ 1⤋
in case you mean in a philosophical experience, as in "is God continuously sturdy", then i could say sure, there's a difference. i could say that God is the source of each and every thing, not basically the sturdy. It has lots to do including your guy or woman ideals inspite of the shown fact that.
2016-10-19 03:17:55 · answer #7 · answered by Anonymous · 0⤊ 0⤋
r u sure u got the spelling for the second one right?cos it could be awesome or awEful.
2006-12-29 00:14:07 · answer #8 · answered by Anonymous · 0⤊ 1⤋
The spellings are different - AWFUL and AWEFUL
2007-01-04 14:54:22 · answer #9 · answered by Anonymous · 0⤊ 1⤋
no, not strange
2006-12-29 00:06:46 · answer #10 · answered by Bubbles 5 · 0⤊ 0⤋