awesomeとは意味・読み方・使い方

発音

• (Received 発音) IPA^(key): /ˈɔː.səm/
• (General American) IPA^(key): /ˈɔ.səm/
• (cot–caught merger) IPA^(key): /ˈɑ.səm/

形容詞

awesome (comparative more awesome または awesomer, superlative most awesome または awesomest)

1. (dated) Causing awe or terror; inspiring wonder or excitement. [from 1590–1600.]

   Synonyms: awe-inspiring; see also Thesaurus:awesome

   The waterfall in the middle of the rainforest was an awesome sight.

   The tsunami was awesome in its destructive power.

   • 1886 October – 1887 January, H[enry] Rider Haggard, She: A History of Adventure, London: Longmans, Green, and Co., published 1887, OCLC 1167497017:

     And now it appeared that there was a mysterious Queen clothed by rumour with dread and wonderful attributes, and commonly known by the impersonal, but, to my mind, rather awesome title of She.

   • 1913 January–May, Edgar Rice Burroughs, “The Gods of Mars”, in The All-Story, New York, N.Y.: Frank A. Munsey Co., OCLC 17392886; republished as “The Eyes in the Dark”, in The Gods of Mars, Chicago, Ill.: A[lexander] C[aldwell] McClurg & Co., 1918, OCLC 2775350, page 227:

     I think that the most fearsome attribute of these awesome creatures is their silence and the fact that one never sees them—nothing but those baleful eyes glaring unblinkingly out of the dark void behind.

   • 1984 February 14, John Corry, “Birth Curb in China”, in The New York Times‎^[1], ISSN 0362-4331:

     Certainly it is awesome to think of a nation that brings its powers of persuasion against a woman's right to conceive.

2. (colloquial) Excellent, exciting, remarkable.

   Synonyms: see Thesaurus:excellent

   That was awesome!

   Awesome, dude!

   • 1982, Cameron Crowe, Fast Times at Ridgemont High‎^[2], spoken by Jeff Spicoli (Sean Penn):

     Awesome! Totally awesome! All right, Hamilton!

使用する際の注意点

The oldest meaning of awesome is of “something which inspires awe”, but the word is now also a common slang expression. It was originally so used in the United States, where it had featured strikingly in the 1970 film Tora! Tora! Tora!, as used by Japan's Admiral Isoroku Yamamoto to describe the "awesome" industrial potential of the United States. Consequently, as the word popularly became an expression for anything superb, in its original meaning it has tended to be replaced by the related word, awe-inspiring.

The comparative and superlative forms awesomer and awesomest are generally regarded as nonstandard.

反意語

• aweless

派生語

• awesome sauce (スラング)
• awesomely
• awesomeness
• awesomenessness (nonce word, まれに, 一般的ではない用法)
• awesometastic

関連する語

• awe-inspiring
• awful

名詞

awesome (uncountable)

1. (slang) Short for awesomeness: the quality, state, or essence of being awesome.

   Synonym: (スラング) awesome sauce

   Antonyms: (スラング) fail, (卑語) shit, (スラング) weaksauce

   pure awesome

   made of awesome

   • 2011, Gwen Hayes, Let Me Call You Sweetheart, Samhain Publishing, Ltd., published 2011, →ISBN, page 6:

     Plus, her patent leather boots were made of awesome. They made her legs look longer and leaner.

   • 2011, Kevin Seccia, Punching Tom Hanks: Dropkicking Gorillas and Pummeling Zombified Ex-Presidents—A Guide to Beating Up Anything, St. Martin's Press, published 2011, →ISBN, page 189:

     Swayze, of course, is the being of pure awesome who has by now conquered all of Heaven.

   • 2013, Carrie Jones, Captivate, Bloomsbury, published 2010, →ISBN, page 150:

     “Your grandmother,” he mumbles into my hair as we cuddle on the couch, “is made of awesome.”

Further reading

• awesome (disambiguation) on Wikipedia.