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Webster 1913 Edition

Noun.

The quality of striking with awe, or with reverence; dreadfulness; solemnity;

as, the

awfulness

of this sacred place

The

awfulness

of grandeur.

Johnson.

The state of being struck with awe; a spirit of solemnity; profound reverence.

[Obs.]

Producing in us reverence and

awfulness

Jer. Taylor.

, n.

The quality of striking with awe, or with reverence; solemnity; as, 'the awfulness of this sacred place.'

The state of being struck with awe.

A help to prayer, producing in us reverence and awfulness.

[Not legitimate.]

awfulness ‎(usually uncountable, plural awfulnesses)

The state or quality of being awful.
- 1942, Emily Carr, The Book of Small, "Characters,"
  Out came old Teenie, buzzing mad as a whole nest of wasps. Muttered awfulnesses came from her great padded bonnet.
- 1961, Peter De Vries, The Blood of the Lamb, Penguin , 1982, Chapter 3, p. 36,
  "Why is the awfulness of families such a popular reason for starting another?"
The quality of striking with awe, or with reverence; dreadfulness; solemnity.
- 1823, Thomas de Quincey, "On the Knocking at the Gate in Macbeth" in On Murder, edited by Robert Morrison, Oxford World's Classics, 2006, p. 3,
  […] the knocking at the gate, which succeeds to the murder of Duncan, produced to my feelings an effect for which I could never account: the effect was—that it reflected back upon the murder a peculiar awfulness and a depth of solemnity […]
the awfulness of this sacred place
The state of being struck with awe; a spirit of solemnity; profound reverence.