Adjective
- 1. awful, dire, direful, dread(prenominal), dreaded, dreadful, fearful, fearsome, frightening, horrendous, horrific, terrible, alarming (vs. unalarming)
- usage: causing fear or dread or terror; "the awful war"; "an awful risk"; "dire news"; "a career or vengeance so direful that London was shocked"; "the dread presence of the headmaster"; "polio is no longer the dreaded disease it once was"; "a dreadful storm"; "a fearful howling"; "horrendous explosions shook the city"; "a terrible curse"
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