Awe

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awe

AWE, n. aw. Gr. to be astonished.

1. Fear mingled with admiration or reverence; reverential fear.

Stand in awe and sin not. Ps. 4.

2. Fear; dread inspired by something great, or terrific.

AWE, v.t. To strike with fear and reverence; to influence by fear, terror or respect; as, his majesty awed them into silence.

awed

AW'ED, pp. Struck with fear; influenced by fear or reverence.

awful

AWFUL, a. awe and full.

1. That strikes with awe; that fills with profound reverence; as the awful majesty of Jehovah.

2. That fills with terror and dread; as the awful approach of death.

3. Struck with awe; scrupulous.

A weak and awful reverence for antiquity.

Shakespeare uses it for worshipful, inspiring respect by authority or dignity.

Our common people use this word in the sense of frightful, ugly, detestable.

awfulness

AW'FULNESS, n.

1. The quality of striking with awe, or with reverence; solemnity; as, "the awfulness of this sacred place."

2. The state of being struck with awe.

A help to prayer, producing in us reverence and awfulness.

Not legitimate.

Definitions from Webster's American Dictionary of the English Language, 1828.