What's the difference between awe and overwhelm?

Awe


Definition:

  • (n.) Dread; great fear mingled with respect.
  • (n.) The emotion inspired by something dreadful and sublime; an undefined sense of the dreadful and the sublime; reverential fear, or solemn wonder; profound reverence.
  • (v. t.) To strike with fear and reverence; to inspire with awe; to control by inspiring dread.

Example Sentences:

  • (1) "I wanted it to have a romantic feel," says Wilson, "recalling Donald Campbell and his Bluebird machines and that spirit of awe-inspiring adventure."
  • (2) I have had the awe-inducing pleasure of standing alone among the giant trees, both sequoias and redwoods, and hearing nothing but the chatter of the squirrels and the high wind in the tallest branches.
  • (3) Let’s leave that discussion to another day, but imagine a combination of the two – sort of Transformers meets Ex Machina – in which a race of giant sexy robots battles it out with another race of really mean giant sexy robots while paltry human beings look on in awe, and teenage boys (and girls) experience incredibly conflicting and disturbing sensual awakenings in the front row of the Beckenham Odeon.
  • (4) But as a professional engineer, Alwash admits to having been in awe at what Saddam's men had done.
  • (5) An activist has discipline, goals and strategy.” Amy K. Nelson (@AmyKNelson) Amazing scene here at QuickTrip: exiled Tibetan monks here & people are in awe, hugging them, wanting photos.
  • (6) From where he stood, the Real Madrid coach watched in awe as barely metres away Gareth Bale started the sprint that ended with him scoring what he admitted was the "biggest" goal of his career: a 50-metre gallop that won the Copa del Rey for Real Madrid .
  • (7) The world is in awe of China’s relentless capacity to produce gargantuan cities, each outdoing the most recent superlative that describes its predecessor.
  • (8) He’s sensitive, intelligent, rather awe-inspiring and slightly frightening, but he is a real person, you can get really involved in him.
  • (9) One day they hope to recreate a full-size, ocean-going replica Roskilde 6, and send it across the sea to awe rather than to terrorise the coasts of the British Isles.
  • (10) Are we fighting for a better understanding of what is going on in our sport or are we trying to get power?’” Saddique Shaban (@SaddiqueShaban) No let up in Kenyan athletes siege at Roadha House as besieged officials watch in awe.
  • (11) But it was awe-inspiring to watch Rivers try: she had the stamina of someone (several someones) a fraction of her age.
  • (12) Of course a father looking at the ultrasound image of his gestating, 20-week-old daughters is going to feel love and awe and the majesty of life, and deeply feel that those are his babies and that they are people.
  • (13) Despite pressure from leaders in Europe and across the world – from David Cameron to Barack Obama – the ECB has resisted calls for a "shock and awe" intervention in the bond markets to support countries such as Italy and Spain, which have seen their borrowing costs soar in the past two weeks.
  • (14) A surgical intervention is dangerous for the old patient awing to the reduced reactiveness and polymorbity.
  • (15) Malton says she is "in awe" of how he goes about the work.
  • (16) The right has spent almost every moment of the last six years painting leftists as people gazing in blissful awe at Obama.
  • (17) When Spielberg asked him to design the mothership for the climax of Close Encounters, the artist drew on a dream from years earlier, in which he had seen an awe-inspiring spacecraft with pipes and stairways jutting out from its underside.
  • (18) He liked the band, and we gave him $10,000, which was probably a big influence.” Their second (far more unlikely) collaboration with P-Funk main man Clinton was such a success that the mere mention of his name sends the band into a love-glow of awe.
  • (19) Only a rare few have accomplished this noble journey and can attest to the feeling of awe that accompanies such a moment in one’s life.
  • (20) Yet in the face of the country’s political and media establishment warning Greeks to vote yes – echoing every major European leader (and quite a few faceless ones) – and the shock-and-awe tactics of the European Central Bank in pulling the plug on Greek banks , the country still delivered a loud no to austerity, troika-style.

Overwhelm


Definition:

  • (v. t.) To cover over completely, as by a great wave; to overflow and bury beneath; to ingulf; hence, figuratively, to immerse and bear down; to overpower; to crush; to bury; to oppress, etc., overpoweringly.
  • (v. t.) To project or impend over threateningly.
  • (v. t.) To cause to surround, to cover.
  • (n.) The act of overwhelming.

Example Sentences:

  • (1) The following conclusions emerge: (i) when the 3' or the 3' penultimate base of the oligonucleotide mismatched an allele, no amplification product could be detected; (ii) when the mismatches were 3 and 4 bases from the 3' end of the primer, differential amplification was still observed, but only at certain concentrations of magnesium chloride; (iii) the mismatched allele can be detected in the presence of a 40-fold excess of the matched allele; (iv) primers as short as 13 nucleotides were effective; and (v) the specificity of the amplification could be overwhelmed by greatly increasing the concentration of target DNA.
  • (2) She added: “We will continue to act upon the overwhelming majority view of our shareholders.” The vote was the second year running Ryanair had suffered a rebellion on pay.
  • (3) T cells admixed in the germinal centers were overwhelmingly of the T-helper type.
  • (4) Unfortunately for the governor, he could win both states and still face the overwhelming likelihood of failure if he doesn't take Ohio, where the poll found Obama out front 51-43.
  • (5) In Britain, the European election is overwhelmingly seen through the prism of domestic politics.
  • (6) Photograph: Christopher Thomond for the Guardian Asked if Watson should seek to refresh his mandate after Corbyn’s overwhelming victory among members, McCluskey added: “Well, if Tom wants to try to refresh his mandate it would be interesting to see what happens.” Watson said it was time “to be proud of our party”, because the Conservatives were beatable and the prime minister, Theresa May, could call an election any time.
  • (7) The government acknowledged it had been overwhelmed by the devastation from the deadliest quake in Nepal in over 80 years.
  • (8) He made me laugh and cry, and his courage in writing about what he was going through was sometimes quite overwhelming.
  • (9) Although alpha 1-antiprotease (alpha 1-AP) binds and inactivates NE and is the major antielastase of the lower respiratory tract, antielastase defenses may be overwhelmed in CF, leading to progressive lung damage.
  • (10) And HAP has shown that the key finding that debt slows growth was driven overwhelmingly by the exclusion of four years of data from New Zealand.
  • (11) Cathepsin D-like acid proteinase existed overwhelmingly in the mucosal layer and was hardly detected in the gastric juice.
  • (12) Hence, reaction of chemical carcinogen with nuclear DNA is possible only when the cell is overwhelmed leading to cell death, or following a temporary breach of the nuclear membrane control points, but the DNA damage in the latter is totally reparable.
  • (13) The facts are clear: the overwhelming majority of EU citizens in Britain are contributors, not freeloaders.” But that was not the official position of any of the parties involved, so it went mostly unsaid.
  • (14) Of 54 patients with poor-grade aneurysms, ventriculostomy was placed in 47 (87.0%) and yielded high ICP's in the overwhelming majority, with the mean ICP being 40.2 cm H2O.
  • (15) There is overwhelming evidence, today, that such factors are involved in the manifestation of acute as well as chronic, non-specific as well as well as specific inflammation.
  • (16) Mobile phone networks, overwhelmed by demand, were down for hours, with authorities advising people to use email or text messages instead.
  • (17) The immunity was enacted by an overwhelming bipartisan vote, with the support of leading Democrats including Barack Obama, who had promised - when seeking his party's nomination - to filibuster any bill that contained retroactive telecom immunity.
  • (18) There’s an overwhelming sadness among kids like that who have been kept there for a very long time.
  • (19) Panic attacks would overwhelm her periodically and she experienced regular “ scanxiety ” – the feelings of dread that grip patients before new tests.
  • (20) In the meantime, Malaysia Airlines’ overwhelming focus will be the same as it has been from the outset – to provide the families with a comprehensive support programme.