different between awful vs urgent

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

Borrowed from Middle French urgent (“pressing, impelling”), from Latin urg?ns, from urg?re (“to press”).

Pronunciation

• (UK, General Australian) IPA^(key): /???d??nt/
• (US, Canada) IPA^(key): /??d??nt/
• Hyphenation: ur?gent

Adjective

urgent (comparative more urgent, superlative most urgent)

1. Requiring immediate attention.

   Synonyms: pressing, needly

Usage notes

The primary meaning of urgent is as a description of a pressing need. Especially in journalistic contexts, it is sometimes used by transference to describe the thing needed, or to mean "happening very soon", which some deem erroneous.

Derived terms

Related terms

• urge

Translations

Anagrams

• Gunter, gunter, gurnet

Catalan

Etymology

From Latin urgens.

Pronunciation

• (Balearic) IPA^(key): /u???ent/
• (Central) IPA^(key): /ur??en/
• (Valencian) IPA^(key): /u??d??ent/

Adjective

urgent (masculine and feminine plural urgents)

1. urgent

Derived terms

• urgentment

Related terms

• urgència
• urgir

Further reading

• “urgent” in Diccionari de la llengua catalana, segona edició, Institut d’Estudis Catalans.
• “urgent” in Gran Diccionari de la Llengua Catalana, Grup Enciclopèdia Catalana.
• “urgent” in Diccionari normatiu valencià, Acadèmia Valenciana de la Llengua.
• “urgent” in Diccionari català-valencià-balear, Antoni Maria Alcover and Francesc de Borja Moll, 1962.

French

Etymology

Borrowed from Late Latin urgens, present participle of urge?.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /y?.???/

Adjective

urgent (feminine singular urgente, masculine plural urgents, feminine plural urgentes)

1. urgent

Derived terms

Related terms

See also

• pressé

Further reading

• “urgent” in Trésor de la langue française informatisé (The Digitized Treasury of the French Language).

Latin

Pronunciation

• (Classical) IPA^(key): /?ur.?ent/, [??r??n?t?]
• (Ecclesiastical) IPA^(key): /?ur.d??ent/, [?urd???n?t?]

Verb

urgent

1. third-person plural present active indicative of urge?

Piedmontese

Alternative forms

• ürgent

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /yr?d????t/

Adjective

urgent

1. urgent

Romanian

Etymology

From French urgent, from Latin urgens.

Adjective

urgent m or n (feminine singular urgent?, masculine plural urgen?i, feminine and neuter plural urgente)

1. urgent

Declension