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awe - 6 dictionary results

awe

  [aw] noun, verb, awed, aw⋅ing.
Use awe in a Sentence
–noun
1. an overwhelming feeling of reverence, admiration, fear, etc., produced by that which is grand, sublime, extremely powerful, or the like: in awe of God; in awe of great political figures.
2. Archaic. power to inspire fear or reverence.
3. Obsolete. fear or dread.
–verb (used with object)
4. to inspire with awe.
5. to influence or restrain by awe.
Origin:
1250–1300; ME aghe, awe < Scand; cf. ON agi fear, c. Goth agis, OE ege, Gk áchos pain

Synonyms:
1. wonder, veneration.

Antonyms:
1. apathy; contempt.
Dictionary.com Unabridged
Based on the Random House Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2009.
Cite This Source Link To awe
awe   (ô)   
n.  
  1. A mixed emotion of reverence, respect, dread, and wonder inspired by authority, genius, great beauty, sublimity, or might: We felt awe when contemplating the works of Bach. The observers were in awe of the destructive power of the new weapon.
  2. Archaic
    1. The power to inspire dread.
    2. Dread.
tr.v.   awed, aw·ing, awes
To inspire with awe.

[Middle English, from Old Norse agi.]
The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition
Copyright © 2009 by Houghton Mifflin Company.
Published by Houghton Mifflin Company. All rights reserved.
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Awe

Awe\ ([add]), n. [OE. a[yogh]e, aghe, fr. Icel. agi; akin to AS. ege, [=o]ga, Goth. agis, Dan. ave chastisement, fear, Gr. 'a`chos pain, distress, from the same root as E. ail. [root]3. Cf. Ugly.]

1. Dread; great fear mingled with respect. [Obs. or Obsolescent]

His frown was full of terror, and his voice Shook the delinquent with such fits of awe. --Cowper.

2. The emotion inspired by something dreadful and sublime; an undefined sense of the dreadful and the sublime; reverential fear, or solemn wonder; profound reverence.

There is an awe in mortals' joy, A deep mysterious fear. --Keble.

To tame the pride of that power which held the Continent in awe. --Macaulay.

The solitude of the desert, or the loftiness of the mountain, may fill the mind with awe -- the sense of our own littleness in some greater presence or power. --C. J. Smith.

To stand in awe of, to fear greatly; to reverence profoundly.

Syn: See Reverence.

Awe

Awe\, v. t. [imp. & p. p. Awed (?); p. pr. & vb. n. Awing.] To strike with fear and reverence; to inspire with awe; to control by inspiring dread.

That same eye whose bend doth awe the world. --Shak.

His solemn and pathetic exhortation awed and melted the bystanders. --Macaulay.
Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary, © 1996, 1998 MICRA, Inc.
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Language Translation for : awe
Spanish: temor, respeto,
German: die Ehrfurcht,
Japanese: 畏敬
More Translations »

awe 
c.1200, from O.N. agi "fright," from P.Gmc. *agiz- (cf. O.E. ege "fear," O.H.G. agiso "fright, terror," Goth. agis "fear, anguish"), from PIE *agh-es- (cf. Gk. akhos "pain, grief"), from base *agh- "to be depressed, be afraid" (see ail). Current sense of "dread mixed with veneration" is due to biblical use with ref. to the Supreme Being. The verb is first attested 1303. Awestruck is from 1634. Awesome first recorded 1598; colloquial sense of "excellent" is from 1980.
Online Etymology Dictionary, © 2001 Douglas Harper
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AWE
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The Free On-line Dictionary of Computing, © 1993-2007 Denis Howe
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