monstrous

English

Etymology

From Middle English monstrous, from Old French monstrueuse, monstrüos, from Latin mōnstrōsus. Compare monstruous.

Adjective

monstrous (comparative more monstrous, superlative most monstrous)

  1. Hideous or frightful.
    • Shakespeare
      So bad a death argues a monstrous life.
  2. Enormously large.
    a monstrous height
    a monstrous ox
  3. Freakish or grotesque.
    • John Locke
      a monstrous birth
    • Jeremy Taylor
      He, therefore, that refuses to do good to them whom he is bound to love […] is unnatural and monstrous in his affections.
  4. Of, or relating to a mythical monster; full of monsters.
    • Milton
      Where thou, perhaps, under the whelming tide / Visitest the bottom of the monstrous world.
  5. (obsolete) Marvellous; strange.

Synonyms

  • See also Thesaurus:gigantic

Translations

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