You use ~ to emphasize that a bad situation or quality is totally bad.
Last year’s cotton crop was an ~ disaster...
She leads a life of ~ misery.
= absolute, utter
ADJ: ADJ n emphasis
You use ~ to emphasize that a bad situation or quality is totally bad.
Last year’s cotton crop was an ~ disaster...
She leads a life of ~ misery.
= absolute, utter
ADJ: ADJ n emphasis
Collins COBUILD. Толковый словарь английского языка для изучающих язык Коллинз COBUILD (международная база данных языков Бирмингемского университета) . 2012