Definitions

from The Century Dictionary.

  • noun The quality of being awful, or of striking or inspiring with awe, fear, or horror; impressive solemnity or sublimity; dreadfulness; terribleness: as, the awfulness of the sacred place, or of a casualty.
  • noun The state of being full of or inspired with awe; reverence; awe.

from the GNU version of the Collaborative International Dictionary of English.

  • noun The quality of striking with awe, or with reverence; dreadfulness; solemnity.
  • noun obsolete The state of being struck with awe; a spirit of solemnity; profound reverence.

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.

  • noun The quality of striking with awe, or with reverence; dreadfulness; solemnity; as, the awfulness of this sacred place.
  • noun The state of being struck with awe; a spirit of solemnity; profound reverence.

from WordNet 3.0 Copyright 2006 by Princeton University. All rights reserved.

  • noun a quality of extreme unpleasantness

Etymologies

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License

awful +‎ -ness

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