Aw"ful (&?;), a. 1. Oppressing with fear or horror; appalling; terrible; as, an awful scene. "The hour of Nature's awful throes." Hemans.

2. Inspiring awe; filling with profound reverence, or with fear and admiration; fitted to inspire reverential fear; profoundly impressive.

Heaven's awful Monarch.
Milton.

3. Struck or filled with awe; terror- stricken. [Obs.]

A weak and awful reverence for antiquity.
I. Watts.

4. Worshipful; reverential; law-abiding. [Obs.]

Thrust from the company of awful men.
Shak.

5. Frightful; exceedingly bad; great; -- applied intensively; as, an awful bonnet; an awful boaster. [Slang]

Syn. -- See Frightful.

• Oppressing with fear or horror; appalling; terrible; as, an awful scene.
  
• Inspiring awe; filling with profound reverence, or with fear and admiration; fitted to inspire reverential fear; profoundly impressive.
  
• Struck or filled with awe; terror-stricken.
  
• Worshipful; reverential; law-abiding.
  
• Frightful; exceedingly bad; great; applied intensively; as, an awful bonnet; an awful boaster.