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awesome

SayAW-suhm/ˈɔ.səm/UK/ˈɔː.səm/

3 meanings of awesome

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  1. 1
    greatadjectivecolloquialAustraliaCanadaUS
    Extremely good, exciting, or remarkable.

    The band's final song was absolutely awesome.

    She landed an awesome internship at a tech company.

    UsageOften alone as a reply (Awesome!) or with totally or so; in formal writing excellent or remarkable is safer.

    Similarexcellent, brilliant, cool, exceptional, admirable

    Oppositeterrible, awful, lousy

    Note

    Praise with the fear drained out of the awe-inspiring original. It often stands alone as an exclamation ("Awesome!" or "Awesome, dude!") and readily takes intensifiers, as in Jeff Spicoli's "Totally awesome!" in the 1982 film Fast Times at Ridgemont High, written by Cameron Crowe.

    Checked 3 Nov 2026 · 3 facts

  2. 2
    overwhelmingadjective
    Inspiring awe or terror; filling an onlooker with wonder or excitement.

    Like the hush that falls over a crowd watching lightning split the sky.

    The cathedral's vast interior was genuinely awesome to behold.

    The volcano's eruption was an awesome and terrifying sight.

    UsageMany now hear awesome as casual praise; awe-inspiring keeps the sense of awe clear.

    Similarawe-inspiring

    Oppositeunimpressive

    Note

    Formed from awe plus -some, the word is kin to the earlier awful and Middle English eiful, "inducing fright or terror." Here the awe still carries fear, as with Rider Haggard's dread Queen called She, the silent, glaring creatures of Edgar Rice Burroughs's The Gods of Mars, or a tsunami's destructive power.

    Checked 3 Nov 2026 · 4 facts

    • Awesome is formed from awe and -some; awful is earlier, and Middle English eiful means inducing fright or terror. en.wiktionary.org
    • Rider Haggard depicts a dread Queen called She, using awesome to describe her title. gutenberg.org
    • Edgar Rice Burroughs's The Gods of Mars describes awesome creatures whose silence and glaring eyes inspire fear. dev.gutenberg.org
    • A tsunami can have destructive power. tsunami.gov
  3. 3
    greatnessnounslanguncountableabbreviationclipping
    Short for awesomeness: the quality of being really great or amazing.

    The whole show had a level of awesome nobody could match.

    His skateboard tricks brought pure awesome to the whole afternoon.

    UsageMostly in set phrases without an article before awesome: pure awesome, made of awesome, a level of awesome.

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Origin

Formed from awe + -some, comparable to the earlier awful and Middle English eiful ("terrible"), from Old English eġeful ("fearful; inspiring awe"). Its oldest meaning was "full of awe," then "something that inspires awe," and it later became a common colloquial term for anything superb.

Checked 30 Oct 2026 · 5 facts