Awesome describes something so impressive or remarkable that it fills you with wonder and amazement. When you stand at the edge of the Grand Canyon and feel overwhelmed by its enormous scale and beauty, that's an awesome sight. When scientists discover a new species in the deep ocean or when you watch a total solar eclipse, these experiences inspire awe because they reveal how vast and mysterious our world really is.

A thunderstorm rolling across the plains with massive clouds and crackling lightning is awesome in this sense: powerful, humbling, and magnificent.

Today, people use awesome much more casually to mean simply “very good” or “excellent.” Your friend might say your new skateboard trick is awesome, or that the pizza was awesome. This everyday usage can make the word feel less powerful than it once was. When everything from a good sandwich to the pyramids of Egypt gets called awesome, the word loses some of its special meaning.

Still, when you encounter something truly extraordinary, something that makes you stop and marvel at its power or beauty or significance, awesome remains the perfect word to capture that feeling of wonder.