Source : Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary (1913)

Awful \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}.

Source : WordNet®

awful
     adj 1: exceptionally bad or displeasing; "atrocious taste";
            "abominable workmanship"; "an awful voice"; "dreadful
            manners"; "a painful performance"; "terrible
            handwriting"; "an unspeakable odor came sweeping into
            the room" [syn: {atrocious}, {abominable}, {dreadful},
             {painful}, {terrible}, {unspeakable}]
     2: causing fear or dread or terror; "the awful war"; "an awful
        risk"; "dire news"; "a career or vengeance so direful that
        London was shocked"; "the dread presence of the
        headmaster"; "polio is no longer the dreaded disease it
        once was"; "a dreadful storm"; "a fearful howling";
        "horrendous explosions shook the city"; "a terrible curse"
        [syn: {dire}, {direful}, {dread(a)}, {dreaded}, {dreadful},
         {fearful}, {fearsome}, {frightening}, {horrendous}, {horrific},
         {terrible}]
     3: offensive or even (of persons) malicious; "in a nasty mood";
        "a nasty accident"; "a nasty shock"; "a nasty smell"; "a
        nasty trick to pull"; "Will he say nasty things at my
        funeral?"- Ezra Pound [syn: {nasty}] [ant: {nice}]
     4: inspired by a feeling of fearful wonderment or reverence;
        "awed by the silence"; "awful worshippers with bowed
        heads" [syn: {awed}]
     5: inspiring awe or admiration or wonder; "New York is an
        amazing city"; "the Grand Canyon is an awe-inspiring
        sight"; "the awesome complexity of the universe"; "this
        sea, whose gently awful stirrings seem to speak of some
        hidden soul beneath"- Melville; "Westminster Hall's awing
        majesty, so vast, so high, so silent" [syn: {amazing}, {awe-inspiring},
         {awesome}, {awing}]

awful
     adv : used as intensifiers; "terribly interesting"; "I'm awful
           sorry" [syn: {terribly}, {awfully}, {frightfully}]