What does “awestruck” mean?

Awestruck (adjective) means filled with awe: overwhelmed by wonder, admiration, or reverence for something vast, beautiful, or powerful. A person who is awestruck is so amazed that words briefly fail them. Example: “She stood awestruck before the Himalayan peaks at sunrise.”

The full meaning:

To be awestruck is to be stopped by wonder. It is stronger than surprised and warmer than shocked: the mind registers something so grand, so beautiful, or so far beyond the everyday that it pauses. Jaws drop, sentences abandon themselves halfway, and for a moment the only honest response is silence.

The word carries reverence inside it. People are awestruck by mountain ranges, by a rocket climbing off its pad, by a hall full of voices singing one song, by the first sight of their newborn. Small pleasures amuse us; awestruck is reserved for moments that feel bigger than we are. It is, in short, the feeling of being reminded how astonishing the world can be.

Where the word comes from:

“Awestruck” is a compound of two old words. “Awe” reached Middle English from Old Norse agi, which meant dread or terror; over centuries its meaning softened from fear of power into reverence for it. “Struck” is the past participle of “strike”: to be hit. Awestruck, literally, is to be struck by awe, hit by wonder the way one might be hit by lightning. The compound has been in use since the seventeenth century.

Questions people ask about “awestruck”

Is awestruck positive or negative?

Positive, in modern use. Although “awe” once carried fear, today “awestruck” almost always describes joyful, reverent amazement: the reaction to beauty, scale, or brilliance. Context can add solemnity, as at a memorial, but the word itself signals wonder rather than distress or disapproval.

Awestruck or awestricken: which is correct?

Both exist; “awestruck” is the standard modern form and overwhelmingly more common. “Awestricken” is an older variant you may meet in classic literature. Use “awestruck” in writing today, and treat “awestricken” as a historical curiosity rather than an error.

Awestruck vs awe-inspiring: what is the difference?

Direction. A person FEELS awestruck; a thing IS awe-inspiring. The Himalayas are awe-inspiring; the trekkers looking at them are awestruck. If the subject causes the feeling, use awe-inspiring. If the subject experiences the feeling, use awestruck.

Is it awestruck, awe-struck, or awe struck?

Write it as one word: awestruck. The hyphenated “awe-struck” appears in older texts and is understood, but the closed single-word form is the modern standard. “Awe struck” as two separate words is incorrect in contemporary usage.

Can a place or object be awestruck?

No. Only beings that feel can be awestruck. A temple cannot be awestruck; visitors to it can. For the place itself, use awe-inspiring, breathtaking, or magnificent. One exception in style: expressions of people, as in “an awestruck whisper,” take the adjective naturally.

What emotion is awestruck?

It is the emotion of awe at full strength: wonder mixed with reverence and a sense of one’s own smallness before something vast or beautiful. Psychologists note that awe tends to quiet self-focus and expand the sense of time. Awestruck is that state, worn on the face.

What type of word is awestruck?

An adjective. It works before a noun (“an awestruck audience”) and after linking verbs (“the audience was awestruck”).