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Awful vs Sordid - What's the difference?

awful | sordid | Related terms |

Awful is a related term of sordid.


As adjectives the difference between awful and sordid

is that awful is oppressing with fear or horror; appalling, terrible while sordid is dirty or squalid.

As an adverb awful

is (colloquial) very, extremely; as, an awful big house.

awful

English

Alternative forms

* awfull (archaic)

Adjective

(en-adj)
  • Oppressing with fear or horror; appalling, terrible.
  • Inspiring awe; filling with profound reverence or respect; profoundly impressive.
  • *, I.56:
  • God ought not to be commixed in our actions, but with awful reverence, and an attention full of honour and respect.
  • * 1819 , Lord Byron, Don Juan , II.143:
  • And then she stopped, and stood as if in awe / (For sleep is awful ).
  • Struck or filled with awe.
  • (obsolete) Terror-stricken.
  • Worshipful; reverential; law-abiding.
  • Exceedingly great; usually applied intensively.
  • an awful bonnet
    I have learnt an awful amount today.
  • Very bad.
  • My socks smell awful .

    Usage notes

    * Nouns to which "awful" is often applied: day, truth, time, place, moment, mess, night, news, state, situation, smell, thought, person, pain, movie, consequence, crime, fate, death, tragedy, man, event, disease, story, condition, mistake, taste, picture, year, calamity, doom, film, catastrophe, secret, performance, storm, end, week, shape, choice.

    Synonyms

    * See also

    Adverb

    (-)
  • (colloquial) Very, extremely; as, an awful big house.
  • See also

    * awfully.

    sordid

    English

    Adjective

    (en adjective)
  • Dirty or squalid.
  • Morally degrading.
  • * 1912 ,
  • He rode slowly home along the deserted road, watching the stars come out in the clear violet sky.They flashed softly into the limpid heavens, like jewels let fall into clear water. They were a reproach, he felt, to a sordid world.
  • Grasping.
  • Synonyms

    * See also

    Derived terms

    * sordidity * sordidly * sordidness

    Anagrams

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