different between awful vs sordid

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

Etymology

Latin sordidus, from sord?re (“be dirty”).

Pronunciation

• (Received Pronunciation) IPA^(key): /?s??.d?d/
• (General American) IPA^(key): /?s??d?d/
• Homophone: sorted (in some varieties)

Adjective

sordid (comparative sordider, superlative sordidest)

1. Distasteful, ignoble, vile, or contemptible.
2. Dirty or squalid.
3. Morally degrading.
   • 1912, Willa Cather, The Bohemian Girl

     He rode slowly home along the deserted road, watching the stars come out in the clear violet sky. They flashed softly into the limpid heavens, like jewels let fall into clear water. They were a reproach, he felt, to a sordid world.

   • 1994, The Lion King, Be Prepared musical number:

     I know it sounds sordid but you'll be rewarded, when at last I've been given my dues.

   • 2006, John C. Roberts, concurrence and dissent in part in League of United Latin American Citizens v. Perry, 548 U.S. 399 (2006)

     It is a sordid business, this divvying us up by race.

4. Grasping; stingy; avaricious.
5. Of a dull colour.

Synonyms

• See also Thesaurus:greedy, Thesaurus:unclean

Derived terms

• sordidity
• sordidly
• sordidness

Translations

Anagrams

• 'droids, disord, dorids, droids

Estonian

Noun

sordid

1. nominative plural of sort

Romanian

Etymology

From French sordide, from Latin sordidus.

Adjective

sordid m or n (feminine singular sordid?, masculine plural sordizi, feminine and neuter plural sordide)

1. sordid

Declension