awesome
English meaning: Awesome
Definition
Short for awesomeness: the quality, state, or essence of being awesome.
Example
“pure awesome; made of awesome”
Another example: “From the summit they gazed at the awesome power of the waterfall below.”
Usage — When, Where & How
In current everyday speech, 'awesome' is an informal adjective meaning 'excellent' or 'great' (chiefly North American but now global, especially among younger speakers). Its older, formal sense is 'inspiring awe or dread'. The noun sense ('the awesome of it') is rare slang.
Etymology & Origin
English — Origin & History
From 'awe' (from Old Norse 'agi', terror) plus '-some'; the weakened informal sense 'excellent' arose in 1970s-80s American slang.
Synonyms
Antonyms / Opposites
Related Words
Common Collocations
- totally awesome
- that's awesome
- awesome power
- look awesome
- an awesome experience
- awesome sight
Word Forms
awesome (adj); awesomely (adv); awesomeness (n)
Word Tools
Literary Heritage
“To thine own self be true, and it must follow, as the night the day, thou canst not then be false to any man.”
/To thine own self be true/
“Be honest with yourself — and as naturally as night follows day, you will be unable to be false to others.”
“I'm nobody! Who are you? Are you nobody, too?”
/I'm nobody! Who are you?/
“I am nobody — and that quiet anonymity is more honest than the noise of public fame.”
Images
CC-licensed · free to useVideo
Language information
- Language
- English
- English
- Script
- Latin
- Family
- Indo-European
- Speakers
- 1.5B