different between awful vs obnoxious

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)

1. Very bad.

   My socks smell awful.

   We saw such an awful film last night that we left the theater before the end.

2. Exceedingly great; usually applied intensively.

   an awful bonnet

   I have learnt an awful amount today.

3. (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.

4. (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) […].

5. (now rare) Struck or filled with awe.
6. (obsolete) Terror-stricken.
7. Worshipful; reverential; law-abiding.

Synonyms

• See also Thesaurus:frightening

Derived terms

• awfulness
• awfully

Translations

Adverb

awful (not comparable)

1. (colloquial) Awfully; dreadfully; terribly.
2. (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.

English

Alternative forms

• obnoctious (obsolete)

Etymology

From Latin obnoxi?sus (“hurtful, injurious, dangerous”), from obnoxius (“punishable; liable to danger”), from ob (“against; facing”) + noxia (“hurt, injury, damage”).

Pronunciation

• (Received Pronunciation) IPA^(key): /?b?n?k??s/
• (General American) IPA^(key): /?b?n?k??s/

Adjective

obnoxious (comparative more obnoxious, superlative most obnoxious)

1. Extremely unpleasant or offensive; very annoying, odious or contemptible.

2. (archaic) Exposing to harm or injury.
   • 1661, Robert Boyle, The Sceptical Chymist, page 26,

     To begin then with his Experiment of the burning Wood, it seems to me to be obnoxious to not a few considerable Exceptions.

Synonyms

• annoying    [WS]
• unpleasant    [WS]

Related terms

Translations

Further reading

• Douglas Harper (2001–2021) , “obnoxious”, in Online Etymology Dictionary