Awfulness

Part of speech: noun

Definitions

1. The condition of being extremely bad, unpleasant, or causing discomfort
2. A measure of how dreadful or offensive something is perceived to be
3. The aspect of something that makes it shocking, terrible, or very disagreeable

Etymology: "Awfulness" is a plain compound: the adjective "awful" with the suffix "-ness," which turns an adjective into a noun naming a quality. Its earliest form in English was the Middle English "aghfulnesse," which shows the older spelling of "awful" that still carried the sound of the "gh" in "aghast" and "ugh" territory before the letters were simplified. The more telling part is the adjective underneath. "Awful" began as "full of awe," a word for something that inspires reverence or fear, and only gradually slid toward the sense of "dreadful" that the noun now carries. "Awfulness" therefore inherits that older range: a quality that could once suggest solemn majesty as easily as misery. The suffix itself is one of the most productive tools in English, found in words like "kindness" and "darkness," and it attaches readily to adjectives whose meanings have drifted.

Synonyms: horribleness, atrocity, dreadfulness, ugliness, terribleness

Antonyms: wonderfulness, delightfulness, pleasantness