Meaning & use
awe
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Meanings
noununcountable
A strong feeling of wonder and admiration, sometimes with a little fear, caused by something very great or impressive.
Grammar: Uncountable: stand in awe, not an awe.
Patterns
- in awe of someone
- with awe
- be filled with awe
The children watched the eclipse in awe.
She was in awe of the pianist's skill.
We stood in silent awe at the edge of the canyon.
verbtransitiveformal
To fill someone with deep wonder or respect, so that they feel small or silent.
Grammar: Usually used in the passive: be awed by something.
Patterns
- be awed by something
- awe someone
The vast cathedral awed the visitors.
Spectators were awed by the athlete's strength.
Her courage awed everyone in the room.
Word forms
| third person singular | awes |
|---|---|
| past tense | awed |
| past participle | awed |
| -ing form | awing |
Common combinations
- stand in awe of
- Young fans stand in awe of the famous player.
- be struck with awe
- He was struck with awe at the size of the waterfall.
- gaze in awe
- Tourists gazed in awe at the ancient temple.
- hold someone in awe
- The students held their teacher in awe.
- awe and wonder
- The night sky filled her with awe and wonder.
Synonyms and how they differ
- wonder
- Wonder is gentler and can come from curiosity, while awe carries admiration or even fear.
- reverence
- Reverence is deep respect, often religious, and is less about surprise than awe.
- amazement
- Amazement is a strong surprise and does not need respect or admiration.
- admiration
- Admiration is warm approval of someone, with no sense of feeling small.
Opposites
Word family
- awesome adjective
- extremely impressive, or informally very good
- awful adjective
- originally full of awe, now meaning very bad
- awestruck adjective
- filled with amazed respect
- awe-inspiring adjective
- causing deep wonder
Commonly confused: awe or aw? awe or oar?
awe vs aw
Aw is an interjection of sympathy or affection, and sounds like awe but is a different word.
awe vs oar
An oar is a paddle for a boat, and in some accents sounds close to awe.
Practice
The hikers stood ____ awe as the sun rose over the mountains.
Choose one answer.
The fixed phrase is stand in awe. With is possible with a different structure (with awe), but only in works for stand in awe.
Make it your own
Write a sentence using “awe”, then check it and compare it with the examples above.