exceptionally bad or displeasing
"atrocious taste"
"abominable workmanship"
"an awful voice"
"dreadful manners"
"a painful performance"
"terrible handwriting"
"an unspeakable odor came sweeping into the room"
causing fear or dread or terror
"the awful war"
"an awful risk"
"dire news"
"a career or vengeance so direful that London was shocked"
"the dread presence of the headmaster"
"polio is no longer the dreaded disease it once was"
"a dreadful storm"
"a fearful howling"
"horrendous explosions shook the city"
"a terrible curse"
extreme in degree or extent or amount or impact
"in a frightful hurry"
"spent a frightful amount of money"
inspiring awe or admiration or wonder
"New York is an amazing city"
"the Grand Canyon is an awe-inspiring sight"
"the awesome complexity of the universe"
"this sea, whose gently awful stirrings seem to speak of some hidden soul beneath"
"Westminster Hall's awing majesty, so vast, so high, so silent"
Very bad.
"The awful storm destroyed most of the crops in the valley."
Awfully; dreadfully; terribly.
"The storm was awful, tearing through the roof and flooding the basement within minutes."
In plain English: Awfully means to an extreme degree, such as saying something is awfully good when it's really great.
"The weather turned awful quickly during our picnic."
Originally meaning "full of awe," the word traveled into Middle English as agheful before evolving to describe something very bad. This negative shift occurred because people began using it for things that were so terrifying they inspired fear rather than reverence.