monstrous

adjective mon·strous \ ˈmän(t)-strəs \

Updated on: 8 Dec 2017

Definition of monstrous

1 obsolete : strange, unnatural

2 : having extraordinary often overwhelming size : gigantic

stuffing a monstrous sandwich down his throat
—Mike Flaherty

a monstrous skyscraper

3 a : having the qualities or appearance of a monster

came face to face with a monstrous creature
—Lester David

b obsolete : teeming with monsters

4 a : extraordinarily ugly or vicious : horrible

a monstrous crime

monstrous mayhem

b : shockingly wrong or ridiculous

the legend assumed monstrous proportions
—Louis Untermeyer

a monstrous miscalculation

5 : deviating greatly from the natural form or character : abnormal

a monstrous melon

6 : very great —used as an intensive

a monstrous hammering on his door
—G. D. Brown

a monstrous hangover

—

monstrously

adverb

—

monstrousness

noun

See monstrous defined for English-language learners

See monstrous defined for kids

Examples of monstrous in a Sentence

It was monstrous of him to keep the truth from them all those years.
a monstrous melon that was clearly not fit to eat

Recent Examples of monstrous from the Web

Others offer monstrous terrain, like the eye-popping, stomach-dropping MegaRamp at Woodward West in Tehachapi.

— barbara odanaka, latimes.com, "Roll into the soul of skateboarding at Venice Beach," 28 Oct. 2017
And in AC Smith, Kansas City Repertory Theatre has an ideal Troy, a figure both monumental and monstrous.

— robert w. butler, kansascity, "Review: Fences at the Kansas City Repertory Theatre | The Kansas City Star," 21 Oct. 2017
That face has been popping up in more and more places: on a monstrous video screen in Times Square and in NBC’s Sunday Night Football intro, onstage alongside Carrie Underwood.

— dan greene, SI.com, "Travis Kelce Living a Very Travis Kelce Life," 18 Oct. 2017
The bright side, if there is one with a storm that's this monstrous, is that the totals could be considerably lower if Irma loses steam or avoids a direct hit on the Southeast.

— chris morris, Fortune, "Hurricane Irma Could Be a $250 Billion Storm According to New Estimates," 7 Sep. 2017
Additionally, this monstrous fish was recently extracted from the river's underworld.

— elizabeth narins, Cosmopolitan, "These Witches Gliding Down a River Are Surprisingly Spooky," 1 Nov. 2017
Hernandez scored a go-ahead run when George Springer missed on a diving attempt, which led to a triple by Bellinger, who transformed from hitless to monstrous the last two games.

— hunter atkins, Houston Chronicle, "Even in victory, Astros still looking for relief from bullpen," 30 Oct. 2017
With Fairfield's monstrous line featuring five-star recruit Jackson Carman, Tyus seemingly has all day to throw and/or improvise.

— scott springer, Cincinnati.com, "Fairfield playmakers could be GMC football factor," 29 Sep. 2017
Already, the effort to distance itself from its own monstrous creation is beginning on the American Right.

— charles p. pierce, Esquire, "President Obama Just Showed Us How to Fix the Republican Party," 14 Oct. 2016

These example sentences are selected automatically from various online news sources to reflect current usage of the word 'monstrous.' Views expressed in the examples do not represent the opinion of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback.

First Known Use of monstrous

15th century

monstrous Synonyms

Synonyms

deformed, distorted, misshapen, malformed, shapeless

Antonyms

undeformed

Related Words

defaced, disfigured; aberrant, abnormal, freakish, mutant; asymmetrical (or asymmetric), crooked, disproportionate, irregular, lopsided, nonsymmetrical, overbalanced, unbalanced, unequal; horrible, horrific, terrible; ugly, unattractive

Near Antonyms

shapely; flawless, perfect

Synonym Discussion of monstrous

monstrous, prodigious, tremendous, stupendous mean extremely impressive. monstrous implies a departure from the normal (as in size, form, or character) and often carries suggestions of deformity, ugliness, or fabulousness.

- the monstrous waste of the project

prodigious suggests a marvelousness exceeding belief, usually in something felt as going far beyond a previous maximum (as of goodness, greatness, intensity, or size).