Awful, dreadful (8)
I believe the answer is:
terrible
I believe this clue is a double definition.
'awful' is the first definition.
(I know that awful can be written as terrible)
'dreadful' is the second definition.
(I know that dreadful can be written as terrible)
(Other definitions for terrible that I've seen before include "Frightful" , "Extremely bad" , "What precedes twos < and follows child in France" , "Atrocious" , "Like tsar Ivan IV" .)