How words of praise, blame and respect changed their meaning.
awful (adj.)
Collection
How We Judge
Awful carries awe inside it. In its older uses, something awful inspired fear or reverence. The word could describe the power of something that made people feel small or deeply respectful.1
That strength gradually weakened in everyday use. By around the beginning of the nineteenth century, awful was being used for things that were very bad or disagreeable. It also became an intensifier: an awful lot is a great quantity. A word suited to dread could now describe a disappointing meal.12
The older meaning remains available, especially in literary writing. Merriam-Webster gives George Eliot’s phrase “awful loveliness” as an example. There the beauty inspires awe. Reading it as a complaint would change the sense of the passage.2
The weather was awful, so we stayed inside.