different between awful vs baleful
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.
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baleful
English
Alternative forms
- balefull (archaic)
Etymology
From Middle English baleful, balful, baluful, from Old English bealuful, which being equivalent to bealu +? -ful. Surface analysis as bale (“evil, woe”) +? -ful. See bale for further etymology.
Pronunciation
- IPA(key): /?be?l.f?l/
Adjective
baleful (comparative more baleful, superlative most baleful)
- Portending evil; ominous.
- 1873, James Thomson (B.V.), The City of Dreadful Night
- The street-lamps burn amid the baleful glooms,
- Amidst the soundless solitudes immense
- Of ranged mansions dark and still as tombs.
- 1938, Xavier Herbert, Capricornia, New York: D. Appleton-Century, 1943, Chapter XII, p. 194, [1]
- […] he went off alone with his family, and, watched by the day's red baleful eye, pumped the pump-car homeward, […]
- 1949, Naomi Replansky, “Complaint of the Ignorant Wizard” in Ring Song (published 1952):
- I learned the speech of birds; now every tree
Screams out to me a baleful prophecy.
- I learned the speech of birds; now every tree
- 1873, James Thomson (B.V.), The City of Dreadful Night
- Miserable, wretched, distressed, suffering.
- 1674, John Milton, Paradise Lost (Book I), line 56
- round he throws his baleful eyes, that witnessed huge affliction and dismay ...
- 1674, John Milton, Paradise Lost (Book I), line 56
Derived terms
- balefully
- unbaleful
Translations
Middle English
Alternative forms
- balful, baluful, balefulle, balefule, balleful, balefull, balful, balfulle
Etymology
From Old English bealuful; equivalent to bale +? -ful.
Pronunciation
- IPA(key): /?ba?lful/, /?balful/
Adjective
baleful
- evil, horrible, malicious
- (rare) dangerous, harmful, injurious
- (rare) worthless, petty, lowly
Derived terms
- balfulli
Descendants
- English: baleful
References
- “b?leful, adj.”, in MED Online, Ann Arbor, Mich.: University of Michigan, 2007, retrieved 2018-05-19.
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