Definitions
from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition.
- noun A feeling of respect or reverence mixed with dread and wonder, often inspired by something majestic or powerful.
- noun The power to inspire dread.
- noun Dread.
- transitive verb To fill with awe.
from The Century Dictionary.
- noun Dread; fear, as of something evil.
- noun Fear mingled with admiration or reverence; reverential fear; feeling inspired by something sublime, not necessarily partaking of the nature of fear or dread.
- noun Overawing influence.
- noun Synonyms Reverence, Veneration, etc. See
reverence , n. - To owe.
- To inspire with fear or dread; terrify; control or restrain by the influence of fear.
- To strike with awe, reverence, or respect; influence by exciting profound respect or reverential fear.
- noun One of the float-boards of an undershot water-wheel, on which the water acts.
- noun One of the sails of a windmill.
from the GNU version of the Collaborative International Dictionary of English.
- transitive verb To strike with fear and reverence; to inspire with awe; to control by inspiring dread.
- noun Obs. or Obsolescent Dread; great fear mingled with respect.
- noun The emotion inspired by something dreadful and sublime; an undefined sense of the dreadful and the sublime; reverential fear, or solemn wonder; profound reverence.
- noun to fear greatly; to reverence profoundly.
from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.
- noun A feeling of fear and
reverence . - noun A feeling of amazement.
- verb transitive To
inspire fear andreverence . - verb transitive To
control by inspiringdread .
from WordNet 3.0 Copyright 2006 by Princeton University. All rights reserved.
- verb inspire awe in
- noun a feeling of profound respect for someone or something
- noun an overwhelming feeling of wonder or admiration
Etymologies
from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 4th Edition
from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License
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Examples
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For many decisions about what to eat are not based on a personal sense of awe do plants or animals care if we are in awe of them anyway?
Philocrites: This week at uuworld.org: Heroes' dilemma. 2006
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The one that just has me in awe, is the Sugared Walnut ...
Archive 2007-03-01 Anne-Marie 2007
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The one that just has me in awe, is the Sugared Walnut ...
Fan Mail Anne-Marie 2007
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Today the word awe gets thrown around like a dishrag.
You Being Beautiful Michael F. Roizen 2008
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Today the word awe gets thrown around like a dishrag.
You Being Beautiful Michael F. Roizen 2008
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“All these sentiments blend together in the soul,” becoming “a single phenomenon which we call awe” (loc. cit.).
18th Century German Aesthetics Guyer, Paul 2007
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In a preview of the special Comerford, who has been cooking for presidents since the Clinton administration, said the chefs were in "awe" of everything they saw at the White House.
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Way to go Fox ... at least one station isn't so in "awe" of him that they are not afraid to call him out of certain things.
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Publicly, the Europeans have been following the script – "a good night's kip and then go out there and give it to them," said the normally mild-mannered Ross Fisher, sounding more like Paulie Gualtieri from the Sopranos than Clark Kent – but behind the scenes they have been in awe of the way Montgomerie has comported himself this week.
Ryder Cup 2010: Colin Montgomerie uses dark arts to steel European team Lawrence Donegan at Celtic Manor 2010
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I was in awe of you, thinking you were going to be the next Dylan Thomas!
The Thrill of a Lifetime Jerry Ratch 2010
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"Vocational awe" describes the feeling that your work matters so much that you should accept all manner of tradeoffs and calamities to get the job done.
Pluralistic: The enshittification of tech jobs (27 Apr 2025) – Pluralistic: Daily links from Cory Doctorow Cory Doctorow 2025
oroboros commented on the word awe
"When they lose their sense of awe, people turn to religion." --Tao Te Ching
April 7, 2007
EditorMark commented on the word awe
@LiteralMinded's @VisualThesaurus column on "awesome/awful/awe"--and rollercoasters! (paywall) http://bit.ly/bEoLxs
June 10, 2010