colossal
English edit
Etymology edit
From French colossal, formed from Latin colossus, from Ancient Greek κολοσσός (kolossós, “giant statue”).
Pronunciation edit
Adjective edit
colossal (comparative more colossal, superlative most colossal)
- Extremely large or on a great scale.
- A single puppy can make a colossal mess.
- 2013 June 22, “Engineers of a different kind”, in The Economist, volume 407, number 8841, page 70:
- Private-equity nabobs bristle at being dubbed mere financiers. […] Much of their pleading is public-relations bluster. Clever financial ploys are what have made billionaires of the industry’s veterans. “Operational improvement” in a portfolio company has often meant little more than promising colossal bonuses to sitting chief executives if they meet ambitious growth targets. That model is still prevalent today.
- 2017 April 23, “Ivanka & Jared”, in Last Week Tonight with John Oliver, season 4, episode 10, John Oliver (actor), via HBO:
- What is wrong with you, you colossal fucking creep⁉ You found the only possible wrong answer to that question! “What’s your favorite color? Hitler.”
- Amazingly spectacular; extraordinary; epic.
- 1912, Arthur Conan Doyle, The Lost World […], London, New York, N.Y.: Hodder and Stoughton, →OCLC:
- "It's just the very biggest thing that I ever heard of!" said I, though it was my journalistic rather than my scientific enthusiasm that was roused. "It is colossal. You are a Columbus of science who has discovered a lost world."
Synonyms edit
- (extremely large): enormous, giant, gigantic, immense, prodigious, vast
- See also Thesaurus:large
Derived terms edit
Related terms edit
Translations edit
extremely large
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Anagrams edit
French edit
Etymology edit
Pronunciation edit
Adjective edit
colossal (feminine colossale, masculine plural colossaux, feminine plural colossales)
- colossal, huge
- Synonyms: énorme, gigantesque, titanesque
Derived terms edit
Descendants edit
Further reading edit
- “colossal”, in Trésor de la langue française informatisé [Digitized Treasury of the French Language], 2012.
Italian edit
Etymology edit
Pseudo-anglicism, derived from colossal. First attested in 1986.
Noun edit
colossal m (invariable)
- (film, theater) high-budget film or play with a high production value, ensemble cast, etc.
Portuguese edit
Etymology edit
Pronunciation edit
Adjective edit
colossal m or f (plural colossais)
Further reading edit
- “colossal” in Dicionário infopédia da Língua Portuguesa. Porto: Porto Editora, 2003–2024.
- “colossal” in Dicionário Priberam da Língua Portuguesa.