different between awful vs please
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.
awful From the web:
- what awful means
- what awful things happened in 2020
- what awful weather
- what awful weather she said
- what awful news
- what awful weather we are experiencing
- what does awful mean
- what is meant by awful
please
English
Pronunciation
- (Received Pronunciation) IPA(key): /pli?z/, [pl??iz]
- (General American) enPR: pl?z, IPA(key): /pliz/, [p??iz]
- Rhymes: -i?z
- Homophone: pleas
Etymology 1
From Middle English plesen, plaisen, borrowed from Old French plaise, conjugated form of plaisir or plaire, from Latin plac?re (“to please, to seem good”), from the Proto-Indo-European *pl?-k- (“wide and flat”). Displaced native English queme (“to please, satisfy”), from Middle English quemen, queamen (“to please”) (from Old English cw?man (“to please”)), Middle English biluvien (“to please, delight”) (from Middle English bi-, be- + luvien (“to love”)), Middle English liken (“to like, please”) (from Old English l?cian (“to please, be like”)), Middle English lusten, listen (“to be pleasing, delight”) (from Old English lystan (“to please”)).
Alternative forms
- pleace (used from the Middle English period up to the 15th century, and in Scots until the 17th century)
Verb
please (third-person singular simple present pleases, present participle pleasing, simple past and past participle pleased)
- (transitive, intransitive) To make happy or satisfy; to give pleasure to.
- (intransitive, ergative) To desire; to will; to be pleased by.
Synonyms
- (to make happy): satisfy
- (to desire): desire, will
Antonyms
- (to make happy): annoy, irritate, disgust, displease
Derived terms
- pleaser
- pleasing
- pleasy
Related terms
- pleasant
- pleasurable
- pleasure
Translations
Etymology 2
Short for if you please, an intransitive, ergative form taken from if it pleases you which is a calque of French s'il vous plaît, which replaced pray.
Alternative forms
- (for the exaggerated way it is often pronounced as the expression of annoyance) puh-lease
Adverb
please (not comparable)
- Used to make a polite request.
- Used as an affirmative to an offer.
- An expression of annoyance or impatience.
Derived terms
- please explain
- pretty please
Descendants
- ? Bengali: ????? (plij), ????? (plij)
- ? Hindi: ?????? (pl?z) (urban, colloquial)
- ? Urdu: ????? (pl?z) (urban, colloquial)
Translations
Etymology 3
Semantic loan from German bitte (“please; excuse me”).
Adverb
please (not comparable)
- (Cincinnati) Said as a request to repeat information.
Synonyms
- (request to repeat): what, excuse me, pardon me, come again; see also Thesaurus:say again
References
Anagrams
- Sapele, asleep, elapse, sapele
please From the web:
- what pleases god
- what pleases the lord
- what pleases god the most
- what pleases god according to the bible
- what please advise means
- what pleased mean
- what pleases ralph most about the island
- what pleases the holy spirit
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