【Fearful】 , 【awful】 , 【dreadful】 , 【frightful】 , 【terrible】 , 【terrific】 , 【horrible】 , 【horrific】 , 【shocking】 , 【appalling】 are comparable in that all and especially their adverbs are used informally as intensives meaning little more than extreme (or extremely), but each term has a definite and distinct value when applied to a thing that stimulates an emotion in which fear or horror is in some degree an element.
Something is 【fearful】 which makes one afraid or alarmed. In literary or formal use the word usually implies a deep and painful emotion and a loss of courage in the face of possible or imminent danger.
In less formal English 【fearful】 may not imply apprehension of danger, but it may at least imply that the thing so qualified is a cause of disquiet.
Something is 【awful】 which impresses one so profoundly that one acts or feels as if under a spell or in the grip of its influence; the word often implies an emotion such as reverential fear or an overpowering awareness of might, majesty, or sublimity.
With somewhat weakened force 【awful】 may be applied to qualities or conditions which are unduly weighted with significance or which strike one forcibly as far above or beyond the normal.
Something is 【dreadful】 from which one shrinks in shuddering fear or in loathing. In weakened use 【dreadful】 is applicable to something from which one shrinks as disagreeable or as unpleasant to contemplate or endure.
Something is 【frightful】 which, for the moment at least, paralyzes one with fear or throws one into great alarm or consternation.
【Frightful】 is also often employed without direct implication of fright, but in such use it imputes to the thing so qualified a capacity for startling the observer (as by its enormity, outrageousness, or its 【shocking】 quality).
Something is 【terrible】 which causes or is capable of causing extreme and agitating fear or which both induces fright or alarm and prolongs and intensifies it.
When the word carries no implication of terrifying or of capacity for terrifying, it usually suggests that the thing so described is almost unendurable in its excess (as of force or power) or too painful to be borne without alleviation or mitigation.
Something is 【terrific】 which is fitted or intended to inspire terror (as by its size, appearance, or potency). 【Terrific】 may be preferred to 【terrible】 when there is an implication of release of stored-up energy, physical, emotional, or intellectual, and of its stunning effect.
Something is 【horrible】 the sight of which induces not only fear or terror but also loathing and aversion; thus, a 【fearful】 precipice may not be 【horrible】 ; in the practice of the ancient Greek dramatists, murder on the stage was avoided as 【horrible】 .
【Horrible】 , like the other words, may be used in a weaker sense; in such cases it seldom suggests horror, but it does suggests hatefulness or hideousness.
【Horrible】 emphasizes the effect produced on a person, 【horrific】 the possession of qualities or properties fitted or intended to produce that effect.
Something is 【shocking】 which startles or is capable of startling because it is contrary to one's expectations, one's standards of good taste, or one's moral sense. Often in extended use 【shocking】 does not imply a capacity for startling so much as a blamable or reprehensible character.
Something is 【appalling】 which strikes one with dismay as well as with terror or horror. Sometimes 【appalling】 comes close to amazing but then retains the notion of dismaying and carries a stronger suggestion of dumbfounding than of surprising.
