awesome

Pronunciation

• IPA: UK /ˈɔː.səm/, US /ˈɑː.səm/^[1]

Etymology

It is formed from English awe + -some.^[2][3][4]

Earliest recorded meaning

“Full of awe, profoundly reverential”: 1598,^[5][6] the 1590s;^[2] the SOED finds it first in Scotland.^[3]

Semantic evolution

The meaning “inspiring awe or dread” is from the 1670s, 1671 in the OED,^[2][5] and in Scots and northern English dialects awesome meant “awful, appalling, terrifying”, as in Scott's novels.^[7] The weakened colloquial sense, “overwhelming, remarkable”, originally American, is recorded by 1961,^[2][5] and the trivial use as a word of praise, “marvellous, great”, from 1980, in vogue since about then.^[5][2]

Timeline

• 1598 – full of awe.^[5][6]
• 1671 – inspiring awe.^[5]
• 1961 – remarkable (colloquial).^[2][5]
• 1980 – excellent, great.^[5]

Modern meaning

Adjective

1. Inspiring awe; impressive, or frightening.
2. (informal) Extremely good; excellent.
3. (archaic) Full of awe; expressing awe.

Word family

• awesomely
• awesomeness

Related words

• awe-inspiring
• awful
• awe

References

1. ^ Jones, Daniel (2011), Cambridge English Pronouncing Dictionary, 18th ed., ed. Peter Roach, Jane Setter and John Esling, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press
2. ^ a b c d e f Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
3. ^ a b Shorter Oxford English Dictionary on Historical Principles (2002), 5th ed., ed. William R. Trumble and Angus Stevenson, Oxford: Oxford University Press
4. ^ Pearsall, Judy, ed. (1998), The New Oxford Dictionary of English, Oxford: Clarendon Press
5. ^ a b c d e f g h Simpson, J. A.; Weiner, E. S. C., eds. (1989), The Oxford English Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Clarendon Press
6. ^ a b Merriam-Webster Unabridged Dictionary (2024), online ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
7. ^ Wright, Joseph, ed. (1898–1905), The English Dialect Dictionary, 6 vols., Oxford: Henry Frowde; via EDD Online 4.0, University of Innsbruck (CC BY 4.0)