awesome

Wikipedia

English

Etymology

Early Modern English 1590-1600, from awe +‎ -some. Compare Old English eġeful (“fearful, inspiring awe”).

Pronunciation

• (UK) IPA: /ˈɔːsəm/, SAMPA: /"O:s@m/
• (US) IPA: /ˈɔs.əm/, SAMPA: /"Os@m/
• (cot–caught merger) IPA: /ˈɑs.əm/, SAMPA: /"As@m/

• Audio (US)

  (file)

Adjective

awesome (comparative more awesome, superlative most awesome)

1. Causing awe or terror; inspiring wonder or excitement.

   The waterfall in the middle of the rainforest was an awesome sight.

   The tsunami was awesome in its destructive power.

2. (colloquial) Excellent, exciting, remarkable.

   That was awesome!

   Awesome, dude!

Usage notes

The oldest meaning of "awesome" is "something which inspires awe", but the word is also a common slang expression in English, originally from America. As the original meaning of awesome has become somewhat antiquated in general use, the term awe-inspiring is now generally used for the same meaning.

Synonyms

• (excellent): excellent, super, phenomenal, fantastic, terrific; wicked, bang-up, cool, sweet (slang or informal); chur, cher (New Zealand)

Derived terms

• awesomely
• awesomeness
• awesomest

Related terms

• awe-inspiring
• awful

Translations

causing awe or terror

Armenian: ահեղ (ahegh) Chinese: Mandarin: 令人敬畏的 (cmn) (lìngrén jìngwèi de) Finnish: vaikuttava (fi), mahtava (fi), pelottava (fi)

French: impressionant, terrifiant (fr) Italian: impressionante (it) Russian: устрашающий (ru)

excellent, exciting

Albanian: birinxhi (sq) Armenian: հիանալի (hianali) Bengali: ফাটাফাটি (bn) (faţafaţi) Cantonese: 勁, 正 Chinese: Mandarin: 了不起 (cmn) (liǎobuqǐ), 不錯 (cmn), 不错 (cmn) (bùcuò), (vulgar) 牛比 (cmn) (niúbǐ), 酷 (cmn) (kù), 酷斃了 (zh), 酷毙了 (zh) (kù bì le) Czech: skvělý (cs) Finnish: mahtava (fi) French: magnifique (fr), (formally or slang) génial (fr)

German: großartig (de), beeindruckend (de), (slang) toll (de) Italian: magnifico (it), splendido (it) Japanese: すごい (ja) (sugoi), 素敵 (ja) (すてき, suteki), クール (ja) (kūru) Korean: 쩐다 (ko) (j'unda) Navajo: nizhóní Polish: super (pl), (vulgar) zajebisty m. Russian: крутой (ru) (krutój), клёвый (ru) (kljóvyj), классный (ru) (klássnyj), потрясный (ru) (potrjásnyj), (adverb only) здорово (ru) (zdórovo) Spanish: tremendo (es)