Definitions
American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition
- adj. Extremely large in amount, extent, or degree; enormous: a tremendous task. See Synonyms at enormous.
- adj. Informal Marvelous; wonderful: had a tremendous time at the theater last night.
- adj. Capable of making one tremble; terrible.
Century Dictionary and Cyclopedia
- Such as may or does excite trembling, fear, or awe; overpowering in character or quality; awful; dreadful: as, a tremendous explosion; tremendous invective.
- Hence Such as to excite astonishment or awe; unexampled; wonderful in a high degree; overwhelming; astounding: used intensively or hyperbolically.
- Synonyms Frightful, terrific, horrible, appalling.
Wiktionary
- adj. awe-inspiring; terrific.
- adj. Notable for its size, power, or excellence.
- adj. Extremely large (in amount, extent, degree, etc.) or great
GNU Webster's 1913
- adj. Fitted to excite fear or terror; such as may astonish or terrify by its magnitude, force, or violence; terrible; dreadful.
WordNet 3.0
- adj. extreme in degree or extent or amount or impact
- adj. extraordinarily good or great ; used especially as intensifiers
- adj. extraordinarily large in size or extent or amount or power or degree
Etymologies
- From Latin tremendus, gerundive of tremere, to tremble.
Examples
“The plant upgrades will make the company better able to produce quickly enough to meet consumer demand for the Volt, which it calls tremendous.”
“Abbas said earlier today that he would not be deterred from seeking UN recognition for a Palestinian despite what he described as "tremendous pressure.”
The Guardian: UN bid for Palestine statehood - live coverage
“Abbas said earlier Monday that he would not be deterred from seeking U.N. recognition for Palestine despite what he described as "tremendous pressure.”
“On Afghanistan, where Poland has about 2,500 troops serving with the International Security Assistance Force ISAF, President Obama recognized what he called the tremendous sacrifices of Poland's military.”
Voice of America: Polish President Presses for Ratification of New START
“After what it called a tremendous effort, the Coast Guard called off all search efforts yesterday.”
“TODD: Still, one historian says, the release of this after Ford's death carries what he calls tremendous gravity, because presidents have historically been hesitant to criticize their successors, unless they felt a compelling need.”
“The question, do you agree with Homeland Security Michael Chertoff's assertion that National Guard troops are already having what he calls a tremendous impact on improving border security.”
“TODD: Still, one historian says, the release of this after Ford's death carries what he calls tremendous gravity.”
“TODD: Still, one historian says the release of this after Ford's death carries what he calls tremendous gravity as for the protocol of former presidents keeping quiet about their successors.”
Lists
These user-created lists contain the word ‘tremendous’.
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BIG Words
Awesome words that just mean "BIG"
gargantuan, massive, behemoth, colossal, mammoth, monumental, leviathan, immense, enormous, elephantine, astronomical, whopping and 18 more...
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terrific
tremendous, howling, rattling, radical, gorgon, awe(ful)some, pitch Seaver, wow, ohwowho, remarkedable, terrifical, stupendous and 8 more...
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Words for Big
Words, terms and phrases that denote big, bigness, or making something bigger.
enlarge, giant, giantess, biggify, enormous, enhance, augment, whopper, swell, swollen, inflated, gigantic and 52 more...
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Great Sounding Words
Words that sound great!
oroboros Yay! Wordies RULE!!! Oct 5, 2007
uselessness Holy craparoni! Oct 5, 2007
sarra oroboros: pft! Oct 5, 2007
oroboros I'm told that the words hazardous, horrendous, stupendous and tremendous are the only four words that end in 'dous' in the English language. Come on, Wordies, let's prove 'em wrong! Oct 4, 2007
brtom They may talk of a comet, or a burning mountain, or some such bagatelle; but, to me, a modest woman, drest out in all her finery, is the most tremendous object of the whole creation.
Goldsmith, She Stoops, II Jan 10, 2007