Adjacent Words

Monstrous definitions

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Webster's 1828 Dictionary

MON'STROUS, a. [L. monstrosus.] Unnatural in form; out of the common course of nature; as a monstrous birth or production.
1. Strange; very wonderful; generally expressive of dislike.
2. Enormous; huge; extraordinary; as a monstrous highth; a monstrous tree or mountain.
3. Shocking to the sight or other senses; hateful.
MON'STROUS, adv. Exceedingly; very much; as monstrous hard; monstrous thick.
And will be monstrous witty on the poor.
[This use is colloquial and vulgar.]

WordNet (r) 3.0 (2005)

adj
1: abnormally large
2: shockingly brutal or cruel; "murder is an atrocious crime"; "a grievous offense against morality"; "a grievous crime"; "no excess was too monstrous for them to commit" [syn: atrocious, flagitious, grievous, monstrous]
3: distorted and unnatural in shape or size; abnormal and hideous; "tales of grotesque serpents eight fathoms long that churned the seas"; "twisted into monstrous shapes" [syn: grotesque, monstrous]

Merriam Webster's

I. adjective Date: 15th century 1. obsolete strange, unnatural 2. having extraordinary often overwhelming size ; gigantic 3. a. having the qualities or appearance of a monster b. obsolete teeming with monsters 4. a. extraordinarily ugly or vicious ; horrible b. shockingly wrong or ridiculous 5. deviating greatly from the natural form or character ; abnormal 6. very great — used as an intensive • monstrously adverb • monstrousness noun Synonyms: monstrous, prodigious, tremendous, stupendous mean extremely impressive. monstrous implies a departure from the normal (as in size, form, or character) and often carries suggestions of deformity, ugliness, or fabulousness <the monstrous waste of the project>. prodigious suggests a marvelousness exceeding belief, usually in something felt as going far beyond a previous maximum (as of goodness, greatness, intensity, or size) <made a prodigious effort and rolled the stone aside>. tremendous may imply a power to terrify or inspire awe <the tremendous roar of the cataract>. stupendous implies a power to stun or astound, usually because of size, numbers, complexity, or greatness beyond description <a stupendous volcanic eruption>. II. adverb Date: 1590 chiefly dialect very, extremely <a monstrous long raft — Mark Twain>

Oxford Reference Dictionary

adj. 1 like a monster; abnormally formed. 2 huge. 3 a outrageously wrong or absurd. b atrocious. Derivatives: monstrously adv. monstrousness n. Etymology: ME f. OF monstreux or L monstrosus (as MONSTER)

Webster's 1913 Dictionary

Monstrous Mon"strous, a. [OE. monstruous, F. monstrueux, fr. L. monstruosus, fr. monstrum. See Monster.] 1. Marvelous; strange. [Obs.] 2. Having the qualities of a monster; deviating greatly from the natural form or character; abnormal; as, a monstrous birth. --Locke. He, therefore, that refuses to do good to them whom he is bound to love . . . is unnatural and monstrous in his affections. --Jer. Taylor. 3. Extraordinary in a way to excite wonder, dislike, apprehension, etc.; -- said of size, appearance, color, sound, etc.; as, a monstrous height; a monstrous ox; a monstrous story. 4. Extraordinary on account of ugliness, viciousness, or wickedness; hateful; horrible; dreadful. So bad a death argues a monstrous life. --Shak. 5. Abounding in monsters. [R.] Where thou, perhaps, under the whelming tide Visitest the bottom of the monstrous world. --Milton.

Webster's 1913 Dictionary

Monstrous Mon"strous, adv. Exceedingly; very; very much. ``A monstrous thick oil on the top.'' --Bacon. And will be monstrous witty on the poor. --Dryden.

Collin's Cobuild Dictionary

1. If you describe a situation or event as monstrous, you mean that it is extremely shocking or unfair. She endured the monstrous behaviour for years... = atrocious ADJ: usu ADJ n • monstrously Your husband's family has behaved monstrously. ADV: ADV after v 2. If you describe an unpleasant thing as monstrous, you mean that it is extremely large in size or extent. ...a monstrous copper edifice... ADJ: usu ADJ n [emphasis] • monstrously It would be monstrously unfair... = hugely ADV: ADV adj/-ed 3. If you describe something as monstrous, you mean that it is extremely frightening because it appears unnatural or ugly. ...the film's monstrous fantasy figure. = hideous ADJ: usu ADJ n

Soule's Dictionary of English Synonyms

a. 1. Unnatural, preternatural, abnormal, prodigious. 2. Huge, enormous, immense, vast, colossal, stupendous, extraordinary, prodigious. 3. Wonderful, marvellous, strange, prodigious. 4. Shocking, horrible, frightful, hateful, hideous, dreadful, terrible.

Moby Thesaurus

Atlantean, Brobdingnagian, Cyclopean, Gargantuan, Herculean, Homeric, a bit much, abandoned, abject, abominable, absurd, abysmal, amplitudinous, appalling, arrant, astronomic, astronomical, atrocious, awesome, awful, awfully, bad, bandy, bandy-legged, barbaric, barbarous, baroque, base, beastly, beggarly, beneath contempt, beyond belief, big, bizarre, black, blamable, blameworthy, blemished, bloated, boundless, bowlegged, brutal, brutish, bulky, cacogenic, cheesy, club-footed, cockamamie, colossal, contemptible, cosmic, cracking, crazy, criminal, cruel, crummy, crying, damnable, dark, debased, defaced, deformed, degraded, deplorable, depraved, desperate, despicable, detestable, dire, dirty, disfigured, disgraceful, disgusting, dreadful, dwarfed, egregious, elephantine, enormous, epic, evil, exaggerated, excessive, execrable, exorbitant, extensive, extravagant, extreme, extremely, fabulous, fancy, fantastic, fateful, fetid, fiendish, filthy, flagitious, flagrant, flatfooted, foolish, foul, freak, freakish, frightful, fulsome, galactic, gargantuan, gargoylish, ghoulish, giant, giantlike, gigantic, glaring, gluttonous, grandiose, grave, grievous, grisly, gross, grotesque, gruesome, hateful, heinous, hellish, heroic, hideous, high, high-flown, horrendous, horrible, horrid, horrific, horrifying, huge, hyperbolic, hypertrophied, ill-made, ill-proportioned, ill-shaped, immeasurable, immense, immoderate, impressive, improper, incontinent, incredible, infamous, infinite, inhuman, iniquitous, inordinate, insensitive, intemperate, jumbo, king-size, knavish, knock-kneed, lamentable, large, laughable, little, loathsome, lousy, low, low-down, ludicrous, lumpen, magnificent, malformed, mammoth, mangy, marred, massive, massy, mean, measly, merciless, mightily, mighty, misbegotten, miserable, misproportioned, misshapen, monster, monumental, mortal, mountainous, mutilated, nasty, naughty, nauseating, nauseous, nefarious, noisome, nonsensical, notorious, obnoxious, odious, offensive, ominous, out of bounds, out of shape, out of sight, outrageous, outre, outsize, overbig, overdeveloped, overgreat, overgrown, overlarge, overmuch, overweening, paltry, peccant, petty, pigeon-toed, pitiable, pitiful, poky, poor, poppycockish, portentous, preposterous, prodigious, profound, pug-nosed, rachitic, rank, rattling, regrettable, repellent, reprehensible, reprobate, reptilian, repulsive, revolting, rickety, ridiculous, rococo, rotten, ruthless, sad, savage, scabby, scandalous, schlock, scrubby, scruffy, scummy, scurvy, shabby, shameful, shameless, shapeless, shocking, shoddy, showy, simous, sinful, sizable, small, snapping, snub-nosed, sordid, spacious, splendid, squalid, steep, stiff, stumpy, stupendous, superb, swaybacked, talipedic, teratic, teratogenic, teratoid, terrible, titanic, too bad, too much, towering, tremendous, truncated, ugly, unbridled, unclean, unconscionable, undue, unforgivable, unmentionable, unpardonable, unreasonable, unrestrained, unshapely, unspeakable, unworthy, vast, vicious, vile, villainous, voluminous, weighty, weird, wicked, wild, woeful, worst, worthless, wretched, wrong