noun / verb · neutral
awe
/ɔː/AWE
Band 6-7speakingtask2
a feeling of reverential respect mixed with fear or wonder
Examples
“The sight of the glacier filled him with awe.”
“awful weather”
“awful”
Band 8 sentence
“Despite its historical significance, the building's structural neglect made restoration both challenging and, at times, seemingly awful in scale.”
Collocations
- fill someone with awe
- stand in awe of
- an awful storm
Word family
awe noun / verbawful adjectiveawesome adjective (colloquial)awestruck adjective
Common mistakes
The film was awesome, the service was very awful.→The film was awesome; the service was awful.
I was awful when I saw the monument.→I was awestruck / I was filled with awe when I saw the monument.
Say it for a higher band
5very bad→6terrible→7+awful
Synonyms
astonishment
reverence
Easily confused
awesome
“The view from the summit was awesome.”
Related words
Learn this word with the rest of its set, and get reminded at the right time.
In -ful / -less
Learn it with its set