awestriking

1. gerundparticiplepresentpresent participle and gerund of awestrike

comparative more awestriking · superlative most awestriking

1. Inspiring awe or wonder.

   1799, A. Percy, The Monks and the Robbers; a Tale, Chapter 16, in The Lady’s Magazine, Volume 30, April 1799, p. 159, An awe-striking misty gloom, even in the brightest glow of mid-day, pervaded the whole.

   4 more examples

   […] except as to the performance of some offices in the ceremony of consecration, which could not but give umbrage to the free born reason of Englishmen, unsubdued by priesthood or church-superstition, the divine service was very exalted, and awe-striking to the heart.

   1760, George Walker, chapter 2, in The Voyages and Cruises of Commodore Walker, during the Late Spanish and French Wars, volume 2, London: A. Millar, page 35

   […] when we reached the gates of the citadel, we saw that preparations were made for giving us an awe-striking reception.

   1844, Alexander William Kinglake, chapter 29, in Eothen, London: John Ollivier, page 413

   [The doubloon] was set apart and sanctified to one awe-striking end; and however wanton in their sailor ways, one and all, the mariners revered it as the white whale’s talisman.

   1851 November 14, Herman Melville, “Chapter 99”, in Moby-Dick; or, The Whale, 1st American edition, New York, N.Y.: Harper & Brothers; London: Richard Bentley, →OCLC, page 479

   Initially and understandably, it was the awe-striking physical remains of [ancient Egyptian] culture, such as pyramids, sphinxes, and temples, which captivated scholars.

   2009, Paul Foster, chapter 4, in The Apocryphal Gospels: A Very Short Introduction, Oxford University Press, page 87

   Synonyms: wonder-striking