Brobdingnagian
English
WOTD – 2 March 2006
Etymology
From Brobdingnag + -ian.
Pronunciation
- (UK) IPA(key): /ˌbɹɒbdɪŋˈnaɡɪən/
Adjective
Brobdingnagian (comparative more Brobdingnagian, superlative most Brobdingnagian)
- Of or pertaining to Brobdingnag.
- (figuratively) Enormous, huge, far larger than is customary for such a thing.
- 1899, Israel Zangwill, "They that Walk in Darkness": Ghetto Tragedies, page 289:
- When, at the head-centre, the lady demonstrator, armed with a Brobdingnagian whalebone needle, threaded with a bright red cord, executed herringboned fantasias on a canvas frame resembling a violin stand, it all looked easy enough.
- 1907, Booth Tarkington, "Glamour" in His Own People,
- The two men followed Madame de Vaurigard into a square hall, hung with tapestries and lit by two candles of a Brobdingnagian species Mellin had heretofore seen only in cathedrals.
- 2010, Christopher Hitchens, Hitch-22, Atlantic 2011, p. 52:
- Again I stress the matter of sheer scale: the teachers were enormous compared to us and this lent a Brobdingnagian aspect to the scene.
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Synonyms
- See also Thesaurus:gigantic
Antonyms
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