different between awful vs forbidding
awful
English
Alternative forms
- awfull (archaic), aweful (obsolete), awefull (obsolete)
Etymology
From Middle English agheful, awfull, auful, a?efull, equivalent to awe +? -ful. Compare Old English e?eful, e?efull (“terrifying; awful”).
Pronunciation
- (UK) IPA(key): /???f?l/, /???f?l/
- (General American) IPA(key): /??f?l/
- (cot–caught merger) IPA(key): /??f?l/
- Rhymes: -??f?l
- Homophone: offal (some accents)
Adjective
awful (comparative awfuller or more awful, superlative awfullest or most awful)
- Very bad.
- My socks smell awful.
- We saw such an awful film last night that we left the theater before the end.
- Exceedingly great; usually applied intensively.
- an awful bonnet
- I have learnt an awful amount today.
- (now dated) Causing fear or horror; appalling, terrible.
- 1839, J. Sheridan Le Fanu, Schalken the Painter
- 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.
- 1839, J. Sheridan Le Fanu, Schalken the Painter
- (now rare) Inspiring awe; filling with profound reverence or respect; profoundly impressive.
- 1819, Lord Byron, Don Juan, II.143:
- And then she stopped, and stood as if in awe / (For sleep is awful) […].
- 1819, Lord Byron, Don Juan, II.143:
- (now rare) Struck or filled with awe.
- (obsolete) Terror-stricken.
- Worshipful; reverential; law-abiding.
Synonyms
- See also Thesaurus:frightening
Derived terms
- awfulness
- awfully
Translations
Adverb
awful (not comparable)
- (colloquial) Awfully; dreadfully; terribly.
- (colloquial, US, Canada) Very, extremely.
- That's an awful big house.
- She seemed awful nice when I met her yesterday.
- He was blubbering away something awful.
Translations
See also
- awfully
Further reading
- awful in Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary, G. & C. Merriam, 1913.
- awful in The Century Dictionary, New York, N.Y.: The Century Co., 1911.
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- what awful means
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forbidding
English
Pronunciation
- (General American) IPA(key): /f??b?d??/
- (Received Pronunciation) IPA(key): /f??b?d??/
- Rhymes: -?d??
- Hyphenation: for?bid?ding
Adjective
forbidding (comparative more forbidding, superlative most forbidding)
- Appearing to be threatening, unfriendly or potentially unpleasant.
- 1726, Alexander Pope (translator), The Odyssey of Homer, London, 1760, Volume 3, Book 15, lines 57-58, p. 100,[1]
- What cause, cry’d he, can justify our flight,
- To tempt the dangers of forbidding night?
- 1813, Jane Austen, Pride and Prejudice, London: T. Egerton, Volume I, Chapter 3,[2]
- […] he was discovered to be proud, to be above his company, and above being pleased; and not all his large estate in Derbyshire could then save him from having a most forbidding, disagreeable countenance, and being unworthy to be compared with his friend.
- 1922, Emily Post, Etiquette in Society, in Business, in Politics, and at Home, New York: Funk & Wagnalls, 1923, Chapter 28, p. 498,[3]
- The writer of the “blank” letter begins fluently with the date and “Dear Mary,” and then sits and chews his penholder or makes little dots and squares and circles on the blotter—utterly unable to attack the cold, forbidding blankness of that first page.
- 1988, “If You Can’t Fight City Hall, Here’s a Different Idea: Sell It,” The New York Times, 10 January, 1988,[4]
- Its forbidding brick and concrete exterior looms over a vast, windswept brick plaza in a style architectural critics, not without admiration, call “The New Brutalism.”
- 1726, Alexander Pope (translator), The Odyssey of Homer, London, 1760, Volume 3, Book 15, lines 57-58, p. 100,[1]
Antonyms
- approachable
- inviting
- welcoming
Translations
Verb
forbidding
- present participle of forbid
Noun
forbidding (plural forbiddings)
- The act by which something is forbidden; a prohibition.
- 1594, William Shakespeare, The Rape of Lucrece,[5]
- But all these poor forbiddings could not stay him;
- 1920, St. John G. Ervine, The Foolish Lovers, London: W. Collins & Sons, Chapter 3, VIII, p. 228,[6]
- All law was composed of hindrances and obstacles and forbiddings, and therefore he was entirely opposed to Law.
- 1594, William Shakespeare, The Rape of Lucrece,[5]
forbidding From the web:
- forbidding meaning
- what forbidding means in spanish
- forbidding what is evil
- forbidding what is evil and enjoining good
- what does forbidding mean
- what does forbidding mean in a sentence
- what do forbidding mean
- what does forbidding to marry mean
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