prodigious

English

Etymology

From Middle French prodigieux, from Latin prōdigiōsus (unnatural, strange, wonderful, marvelous), from prōdigium (an omen, portent, monster).

Pronunciation

  • IPA(key): /pɹəˈdɪd͡ʒəs/
  • Rhymes: -ɪdʒəs
  • (file)

Adjective

prodigious (comparative more prodigious, superlative most prodigious)

  1. Very big in size or quantity; gigantic; colossal; huge.
    • 1749, [John Cleland], Memoirs of a Woman of Pleasure [Fanny Hill], London: Printed [by Thomas Parker] for G. Fenton [i.e., Fenton and Ralph Griffiths] [], OCLC 731622352:
      Its prodigious size made me shrink again; yet I could not, without pleasure, behold, and even ventur'd to feel, such a length, such a breadth of animated ivory!
  2. Extraordinarily exciting or amazing.
  3. (obsolete) Ominous, portentous.
  4. Monstrous; freakish.

Synonyms

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Further reading

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