how to pronounce awful

/ˈɔːfəl/

audio example by a male speaker

audio example by a female speaker

the above transcription of awful is a detailed (narrow) transcription according to the rules of the International Phonetic Association; you can find a description of each symbol by clicking the phoneme buttons in the secction below.

awful is pronounced in two syllables

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1.

ɔː

2. example pitch curve for pronunciation of awful

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video examples of awful pronunciation

An example use of awful in a speech by a native speaker of american english:

“… and i say well it's awful too i i agree …”

meanings of awful

adjective:

Very bad.
Causing fear or horror; appalling, terrible.
Terror-stricken.
Worshipful; reverential; law-abiding.
Inspiring awe; filling with profound reverence or respect; profoundly impressive.
Struck or filled with awe.
Exceedingly great; usually applied intensively.

adverb:

Awfully; dreadfully; terribly.
Very, extremely.

awful frequency in english - B2 level of CEFR

the word awful occurs in english on average 31.9 times per one million words; this frequency warrants it to be in the study list for B2 level of language mastery according to CEFR, the Common European Framework of Reference.

topics awful can be related to

it is hard to perfectly classify words into specific topics since each word can have many context of its use, but our machine-learning models believe that awful can be often used in the following areas:

1) communication, information, and media;

2) people, society, and culture;