different between awful vs wicked
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
wicked
English
Etymology 1
From Middle English wicked, wikked, an alteration of Middle English wicke, wikke (“morally perverse, evil, wicked”). Possibly from an adjectival use of Old English wi??a (“wizard, sorcerer”), from Proto-Germanic *wikkô (“necromancer, sorcerer”), though the phonology makes this theory difficult to explain.
Pronunciation
- enPR: w?k??d, IPA(key): /?w?k?d/
Adjective
wicked (comparative wickeder or more wicked, superlative wickedest or most wicked)
- Evil or mischievous by nature.
- Synonyms: evil, immoral, malevolent, malicious, nefarious, twisted, villainous; see also Thesaurus:evil
- (slang) Excellent; awesome; masterful.
- Synonyms: awesome, bad, cool, dope, excellent, far out, groovy, hot, rad; see also Thesaurus:excellent
Usage notes
Use of "wicked" as an adjective rather than an adverb is considered an error in the Boston dialect. However, that is not necessarily the case in other New England dialects.
Derived terms
- wickedly
- wickedness
- wicked tongue
Translations
Adverb
wicked (not comparable)
- (slang, New England, Britain) Very, extremely.
- Synonyms: hella, helluv (both Californian/regional, and both potentially considered mildly vulgar)
Translations
Etymology 2
See wick.
Pronunciation
- enPR: w?kt, IPA(key): /w?kt/
Verb
wicked
- simple past tense and past participle of wick
Adjective
wicked (not comparable)
- Having a wick.
Derived terms
- multiwicked
Etymology 3
See wick.
Pronunciation
- IPA(key): /?w?k?d/
Adjective
wicked
- (Britain, dialect, obsolete) Active; brisk.
- (Britain, dialect, chiefly Yorkshire) Infested with maggots.
- Alternative form of wick, as applying to inanimate objects only.
References
Middle English
Adjective
wicked
- Alternative form of wikked
wicked From the web:
- what wicked webs we weave
- what wicked means
- what wicked character are you
- what wicked game you play
- what wicked thing to do
- what wicked tuna star died
- what wickedness was going on in nineveh
- what wicked and disassembling glass of mine
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