monstrous

1 of 3

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 3

adverb

chiefly dialectal

: very, extremely

… a monstrous long raft …

—Mark Twain

monstrousness

3 of 3

noun

mon·​strous·​ness

plural -es

: the quality or state of being monstrous

the monstrousness of the man he plays is kept in bounds—he is scary, but not too scary

—Saturday Review

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

That is before any black hole should have had a chance to grow to such monstrous masses via mergers or ordinary feeding. — Robert Lea, Space.com, 29 Sep. 2026

But Young, under monstrous pressure all day, threw the ball well short of the sticks on one fourth-and-long and then got picked off when his arm got hit on Carolina’s final effort. — Scott Fowler, Charlotte Observer, 27 Sep. 2026

Receiver Drake London, who had six catches for 80 yards in the first two games, had a monstrous nine-catch, 194-yard performance. — Daniel Flick, AJC.com, 25 Sep. 2026

The winning bidder could (after a near-bottomless spend) turn the hotel back into an oligarchical palace, or expand the hotel operation, or restage the monstrous Succession corporate-retreat scene that was filmed here. — Adriane Quinlan, Curbed, 25 Sep. 2026

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