Definitions
American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition
- n. One that is monstrous.
- n. The quality or character of being monstrous.
Century Dictionary and Cyclopedia
- n. The state or character of being monstrous, or formed out of the common order of nature; the character of being shocking or horrible.
- n. An unnatural production; a monster.
Wiktionary
- n. A plant or animal showing abnormal development or deformity.
- n. A monstrous thing, person or act.
- n. The state of being monstrous.
GNU Webster's 1913
- n. The state of being monstrous, or out of the common order of nature; that which is monstrous; a monster.
WordNet 3.0
- n. something hideous or frightful
- n. a person or animal that is markedly unusual or deformed
Etymologies
- From Late Latin monstrositas ("monstrousness"), from Latin monstrōsus. (Wiktionary)
- Middle English monstruosite, from Old French, from Late Latin mōnstrōsitās, from Latin mōnstruōsus, monstrous; see monstrous. (American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition)
Examples
“The presentation of the monstrosity is a challenge to the Irish people of New York which will be taken up.”
“Stephen M. Ross, who built the huge two-tower Time Warner Center at the northwest edge of Columbus Circle and tried to foreclose on the Moinian tower - which he described as a monstrosity - walked away, his supporters said, with a $28 million profit, after five months of skirmishing.”
“For his inaction in this case might indicate a few things about his moral position: that first, that his moral monstrosity is not sufficiently advanced for him to actively compound his original intention, and perhaps more importantly, that he has qualms about excessively acting out his evil intentions.”
“The problem has been that the argument has always seemed to be between people who see the darkness and call it monstrosity, and people who refuse to see the darkness.”
“A malodorous 6ft 7in monstrosity who walks upright on his hind legs, he resembles a giant Labrador, only "heavier-set and strikingly hideous".”
“The building is one of the ugliest in Cambrige, though, a concrete monstrosity from the sixties that won lots of architectural awards but leaked from the moment it started to house students.”
“This 2100 page monstrosity is a slap in the face of Americans.”
“We do not believe this bill, this nearly 2,100-page monstrosity, is real health care reform," McConnell said.”
“Even if this monstrosity is rammed through over the objections of the American people, I think this still can be seen as a victory for the GOP.”
“The monstrosity is finished with your choice of hot or sweet peppers, and balsamic dressing.”
Lists
These user-created lists contain the word ‘monstrosity’.
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Gesundheit
Words that sound like sneezes
zucchini, zoology, wysiwyg, woodchuck, withhold, wichita, vacuum, twelfth, syzygy, synchronous, swatch, supersede and 120 more...
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big book gre
abase, abbess, abbey, abbot, abdicate, abdomen, abdominal, abduction, abed, aberration, abet, abeyance and 6691 more...
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ChortleGiggleSnort
Significant Words- Guiding you on your path to Snazzibility
flimsy, feeble, ranting, ramble, narky, snazzy, yoghurt, bulbous, pustule, globulous, geranium, megalomaniac and 521 more...
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Twitter favourites
The new favourite words of people on Twitter.
A script searches Twitter for "X is my new favourite word" and adds it to this list.
See also:
thunderfuck, incredible, merp, sara, flopparoo, smother, fugly, buer, plum, canny, nefelibata, cuntbucket and 1972 more... -
The Sog Collection
My big word list.
chaos, flaccid, empirical, flotsam, cacophony, grumble, assuage, awe, romance, mortality, coalesce, fortuitous and 3282 more...
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stpeter's Words
abase, abasement, abashed, abdicate, aberrant, abeyance, abhor, abhorrent, abide, abject, ablation, abnegation and 3536 more...
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phuzzy's Words
entomophagan, corpuscle, mellifluence, haberdasher, milliner, tow, spartan, bdellotomy, trepan, trephine, congenial, courtly and 208 more...
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Words of the Day
glabella, chirotony, nook-shotten, crapehanger, filemot, swirlie, egosurf, lexiphanicism, Ruritanian, stichometry, chrononaut, faldstool and 2008 more...
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courtneyah's Words
sigh, troglodyte, lithe, cambium, bark, poem, trochee, minute, ablution, hermeneutic, dogwood, mystique and 98 more...
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Words That Populate My Mind
This is a collection of words I love, old ones that I love the sound of when I repeat them for years and new ones coined in news articles on up and coming trends and technologies - most of them I k...
aroma, mojo, blithely, fringe, fray, synchronicity, doublespeak, buzzword, thoughtcrime, portmanteau, newspeak, oldspeak and 963 more...
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persnickety parlance
behoove, ebullient, insouciant, insipient, froth, quandary, quixotic, tendril, maktub, furrow, furl, anastrophe and 1076 more...
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amsstory's list
pretentious, delectable, egomaniacal, lionize, titillate, nebulous, obfuscation, ostentatious, wry, precipice, ethereal, echo and 150 more...
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GRE uncommon
patronage, expletive, exhort, exegesis, execrable, excommunicate, evince, escarpment, ersatz, ergo, epoxy, snare and 1202 more...
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song starters (twisted song starters)
Words/phrases inextricably tied to the songs they're in, sparking off earworms here there & everywhere (there's one, to start with). Only my own personal examples.
Do guess the more p...as i recall, here there and ev..., firestarter, final countdown, every now and then, turn around, pipe wrench, goodness gracious, insane, fuck you, scat, 21 seconds and 79 more...
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lukemomma's Words
sure, apparently, fathom, shindig, appalling, ridiculous, utterly, monstrosity, harsh, freak, cavernous, cockeyed and 1 more...
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Tunie: Bohemian Rhapsody
Bohemian Rhapsody, by Queen.
Is this the real life?
Is this just fantasy?
Caught in a landslide
No escape from reality
Open your eyes
Look up to the skies...real life, fantasy, landslide, reality, escape, sympathy, easy come, easy go, mama, trigger, shivers, truth, silhouetto and 12 more...
Tweets
Looking for tweets for monstrosity.
bedraggled The first time I stumbled across the word was when listening to Queen's Bohemian Rhapsody :) Jan 18, 2008