awesome - Wiktionary, the free dictionary (original) (raw)

From Wiktionary, the free dictionary

English

Alternative forms

Etymology

From awe +‎ -some; compare earlier awful and Middle English eiful (“inducing fright or terror, terrible”), from Old English eġeful (“fearful; inspiring awe”).

The oldest meaning of awesome is of “something which inspires awe”, but the word is now also a common colloquial expression. It was originally so used in the United States, where it had featured strikingly in the 1970 film Tora! Tora! Tora!, as used by Japan's Admiral Isoroku Yamamoto to describe the "awesome" industrial potential of the United States. Consequently, as the word popularly became an expression for anything superb, in its original meaning it has tended to be replaced by the related word, awe-inspiring.

Pronunciation

Adjective

awesome (comparative more awesome or awesomer, superlative most awesome or awesomest)

  1. Causing awe or terror; inspiring wonder or excitement. [from 1590–1600.]
    Synonyms: awe-inspiring; see also Thesaurus:awesome
    Antonym: aweless
    The waterfall in the middle of the rainforest was an awesome sight.
    The tsunami was awesome in its destructive power.
    • 1886 October – 1887 January, H[enry] Rider Haggard, She: A History of Adventure, London: Longmans, Green, and Co., published 1887, →OCLC:
      And now it appeared that there was a mysterious Queen clothed by rumour with dread and wonderful attributes, and commonly known by the impersonal, but, to my mind, rather awesome title of She.
    • 1913 January–May, Edgar Rice Burroughs, “The Gods of Mars”, in The All-Story, New York, N.Y.: Frank A. Munsey Co., →OCLC; republished as “The Eyes in the Dark”, in The Gods of Mars, Chicago, Ill.: A[lexander] C[aldwell] McClurg & Co., September 1918, →OCLC, page 227:
      I think that the most fearsome attribute of these awesome creatures is their silence and the fact that one never sees them—nothing but those baleful eyes glaring unblinkingly out of the dark void behind.
    • 1984 February 14, John Corry, “Birth Curb in China”, in The New York Times‎[1], →ISSN:
      Certainly it is awesome to think of a nation that brings its powers of persuasion against a woman's right to conceive.
    • 2025 June 25, Daniel Estrin, quoting Benjamin Netanyahu, “Israel was once deterred from striking Iran. Now Netanyahu takes a victory lap”, in NPR‎[2]:
      “Congratulations, President Trump,” Netanyahu said in a video statement immediately following the U.S. attack. “Your bold decision to target Iran's nuclear facilities with the awesome and righteous might of the United States will change history.”
  2. (colloquial, Canada, US, Australia) Excellent, exciting, remarkable.
    Synonyms: see Thesaurus:excellent
    That was awesome!
    Awesome, dude!
    • 1982, Cameron Crowe, Fast Times at Ridgemont High‎[3], spoken by Jeff Spicoli (Sean Penn):
      Awesome! Totally awesome! All right, Hamilton!

Usage notes

The comparative and superlative forms awesomer and awesomest are generally regarded as nonstandard.

Derived terms

Translations

causing awe or terror

excellent, exciting

Noun

awesome (uncountable)

  1. (uncountable, slang) Clipping of awesomeness (“the quality, state, or essence of being awesome”).
    Synonym: (slang) awesome sauce
    Antonyms: (slang) fail, (vulgar) shit, (slang) weaksauce
    pure awesome
    made of awesome
    • 2011, Gwen Hayes, Let Me Call You Sweetheart, Samhain Publishing, Ltd., published 2011, →ISBN, page 6:
      Plus, her patent leather boots were made of awesome. They made her legs look longer and leaner.
    • 2011, Kevin Seccia, Punching Tom Hanks: Dropkicking Gorillas and Pummeling Zombified Ex-Presidents—A Guide to Beating Up Anything, St. Martin's Press, published 2011, →ISBN, page 189:
      Swayze, of course, is the being of pure awesome who has by now conquered all of Heaven.
    • 2013, Carrie Jones, Captivate, Bloomsbury, published 2010, →ISBN, page 150:
      “Your grandmother,” he mumbles into my hair as we cuddle on the couch, “is made of awesome.”
  2. (countable, informal) A person who is awesome.
    • 2012, Qamrul Khanson, Psychological Healing: An Islamic Thought of Intellectual Fitness, page 123:
      When an awesome is dreadful and making even the living of a common person miserable then someone from the community must stand up to resist the dreadful and check the excesses.
    • 2019, Yvonne Lindsay, Jessica Lemmon, Katherine Garbera, Harlequin Desire October 2019:
      “Or as I like to think of it, the wusses versus the awesomes.”

Further reading