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Wretched vs Awful - What's the difference?

wretched | awful | Related terms |

Wretched is a related term of awful.


In obsolete|lang=en terms the difference between wretched and awful

is that wretched is (obsolete) hatefully contemptible; despicable; wicked while awful is (obsolete) terror-stricken.

As adjectives the difference between wretched and awful

is that wretched is very miserable; sunk in, or accompanied by, deep affliction or distress, as from want, anxiety, or grief; calamitous; woeful; very afflicting while awful is oppressing with fear or horror; appalling, terrible.

As an adverb awful is

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

wretched

English

(Webster 1913)

Adjective

(en-adj)
  • Very miserable; sunk in, or accompanied by, deep affliction or distress, as from want, anxiety, or grief; calamitous; woeful; very afflicting.
  • * {{quote-book, year=1918, author=(w)
  • , title=Creatures That Once Were Men, and other stories, chapter=4 citation , passage=As for me, I felt wretched and helpless, in the darkness, surrounded with angry waves, whose noise deafened me.}}
  • Worthless; paltry; very poor or mean; miserable.
  • * {{quote-book, year=1864, author=(Fyodor Dostoyevsky), title=Notes from Underground, chapter=1
  • citation , passage=My room is a wretched , horrid one in the outskirts of the town.}}
  • *, chapter=17
  • , title= The Mirror and the Lamp , passage=This time was most dreadful for Lilian. Thrown on her own resources and almost penniless, she maintained herself and paid the rent of a wretched room near the hospital by working as a charwoman, sempstress, anything.}}
  • * , Episode 16
  • All those wretched quarrels, in his humble opinion, stirring up bad blood, from some bump of combativeness or gland of some kind, erroneously supposed to be about a punctilio of honour and a flag,.
  • * {{quote-news, year=2011, date=April 11, author=Phil McNulty, work=BBC Sport
  • , title= Liverpool 3-0 Man City , passage=Mario Balotelli replaced Tevez but his contribution was so negligible that he suffered the indignity of being substituted himself as time ran out, a development that encapsulated a wretched 90 minutes for City and boss Roberto Mancini. }}
  • (obsolete) Hatefully contemptible; despicable; wicked.
  • Usage notes

    * Nouns to which "wretched" is often applied: woman, state, life, condition, creature, man, excess, person, place, world, being, situation, weather, slave, animal, city, village, health, house, town.

    Quotations

    * To what wretched state reserved! Milton * Wretched ungratefulness . Sir Philip Sidney * Wrechet World King Lear

    Synonyms

    * See also

    Derived terms

    * wretchedness

    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.