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Distasteful vs Awful - What's the difference?

distasteful | awful | Related terms |

Distasteful is a related term of awful.


As adjectives the difference between distasteful and awful

is that distasteful is having a bad or foul taste while awful is oppressing with fear or horror; appalling, terrible.

As an adverb awful is

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

distasteful

English

Alternative forms

* distastefull (archaic)

Adjective

(en adjective)
  • Having a bad or foul taste.
  • (figuratively) Unpleasant.
  • *, chapter=12
  • , title= The Mirror and the Lamp , passage=All this was extraordinarily distasteful to Churchill. It was ugly, gross. Never before had he felt such repulsion when the vicar displayed his characteristic bluntness or coarseness of speech. In the present connexion—or rather as a transition from the subject that started their conversation—such talk had been distressingly out of place.}}
  • Offensive.
  • Antonyms

    * pleasant, pleasing

    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.