People overuse their adjectives. Now-a-days every other adjective is "AWESOME" or "AMAZING" when that which is being described is only mildly above average and the speaker is exaggerating. This exaggeration spoils the adjectives for when someone is describing something that does truly inspire awe. So, here's a scale of adjectives about quality, ordered from highest to lowest, with definitions from Oxford (asterisks imply that I wrote the definition, and I've added notes in parentheses)
masterful: having or revealing supreme mastery or skill (think: masterpiece)
outstanding: distinguished from others in excellence; having a quality that thrusts itself into attention
excellent: of the highest quality
awesome: inspiring awe or admiration or wonder (awe inspiring)
amazing: surprising greatly; inspiring awe or admiration or wonder
great: remarkable or out of the ordinary in degree or magnitude or effect
very good: better than good*
good: of positive quality*
average: of common or usual quality* (this is anything within about one standard deviation of normal, and being average is not a bad thing)
okay: being satisfactory
not bad: non-negative quality* (average or above)
mediocre: moderate to inferior in quality; lacking exceptional quality or ability; poor to middling in quality
bad: having undesirable or negative qualities; below average in quality or performance
awful: exceptionally bad or displeasing (opposite of awesome)
unbearable: incapable of being put up with; intolerable*
The following is a list of runners-up for the list. They are mostly intensifiers that have other implications.
wonderful, fantastic, horrible, terrible, dreadful
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