monstrous

1 of 2

adjective

mon·​strous ˈmän(t)-strəs 

1

: having extraordinary often overwhelming size : gigantic

… stuffing a monstrous sandwich down his throat.

—Mike Flaherty

a monstrous skyscraper

2

a

: extraordinarily ugly or vicious : horrible

a monstrous crime

monstrous mayhem

b

: shockingly wrong or ridiculous

This legend assumed monstrous proportions …

—Louis Untermeyer

a monstrous miscalculation

3

: deviating greatly from the natural form or character : abnormal

a monstrous melon

4

: very great

—used as an intensive

… a monstrous hammering on his door.

—G. D. Brown

a monstrous hangover

5

a

: having the qualities or appearance of a monster

… came face to face with a monstrous creature.

—Lester David

b

obsolete : teeming with monsters

6

obsolete : strange, unnatural

monstrously adverb

monstrousness noun

monstrous

2 of 2

adverb

chiefly dialectal

: very, extremely

… a monstrous long raft …

—Mark Twain

Synonyms of monstrous

Adjective

• distorted

Adverb

• extremely
• incredibly
• damned
• very
• terribly
• damn
• highly
• badly
• too
• severely
• so
• jolly
• desperately
• really
• super
• full
• mighty
• seriously
• that
• such
• real
• far
• wildly
• wicked
• awful
• greatly

Choose the Right Synonym for 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).

made a prodigious effort and rolled the stone aside

tremendous may imply a power to terrify or inspire awe.

the tremendous roar of the cataract

stupendous implies a power to stun or astound, usually because of size, numbers, complexity, or greatness beyond description.

a stupendous volcanic eruption

Examples of monstrous in a Sentence

Adjective

It was monstrous of him to keep the truth from them all those years.

a monstrous melon that was clearly not fit to eat

Adverb

a monstrous pretty gal, she was

Recent Examples on the Web

Adjective

For three months in 1994, Hutu extremists, who represented the ethnic majority in Rwanda, conducted a monstrous slaughter of ethnic Tutsis and moderate Hutus. —Jon Lee Anderson, New Yorker, 24 Nov. 2025

Color played a large part into creating the look of the Creature (Jacob Elordi), a monstrous creation that Victor creates in order to defy the odds and conquer death. —Leia Mendoza, Variety, 24 Nov. 2025

That one ended violently in the second round when Joshua unleashed a monstrous right hand that knocked Ngannou out cold. —Sarah Shephard, New York Times, 19 Nov. 2025

The other is an even more monstrous iteration of the Raptor R off-road truck. —Charles Singh, USA Today, 14 Nov. 2025

Word History

First Known Use

Adjective

15th century, in the meaning defined at sense 6

Adverb

1569, in the meaning defined above

Kids Definition

monstrous

adjective

mon·​strous

ˈmän(t)-strəs

1

: unusually large : gigantic

2

: very ugly or vicious : horrible

3

: shockingly wrong or ridiculous

4

: very different from the usual form : abnormal

monstrously adverb