Awful \Aw"ful\, a.

1. Oppressing with fear or horror; appalling; terrible; as, an awful scene. ``The hour of Nature's awful throes.'' --Hemans.

2. Inspiring awe; filling with profound reverence, or with fear and admiration; fitted to inspire reverential fear; profoundly impressive.

Heaven's awful Monarch. --Milton.

3. Struck or filled with awe; terror-stricken. [Obs.]

A weak and awful reverence for antiquity. --I. Watts.

4. Worshipful; reverential; law-abiding. [Obs.]

Thrust from the company of awful men. --Shak.

5. Frightful; exceedingly bad; great; -- applied intensively; as, an awful bonnet; an awful boaster. [Slang]

Syn: See Frightful.

Source: Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary (1913)