1
as in demons
a strange or horrible and often frightening creature
both children insisted that their parents check under the bed for monsters every night
Synonyms & Similar Words
Relevance
2
as in anomalies
a person, thing, or event that is far from normal
the gardener destroyed all of the monsters that mutated from his tomato plants
Synonyms & Similar Words
Antonyms & Near Antonyms
3
as in villains
a mean, evil, or unprincipled person
the guards at the concentration camps were monsters who enjoyed seeing their victims suffer
Synonyms & Similar Words
Antonyms & Near Antonyms
4
as in giants
something large of its kind
a monster of a sandwich that could easily feed two hearty eaters
Synonyms & Similar Words
Antonyms & Near Antonyms
Example Sentences
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Recent Examples of monsters
But beneath his plush exterior and upbeat messaging, Buddy is an insatiably needy, controlling narcissist requiring constant affirmations of the children’s love and filling their heads with terror of the monsters lurking in the outside world beyond the park in which the show takes place.
—
David Rooney, HollywoodReporter, 24 Jan. 2026
And the monsters are truly terrifying.
—Alison Foreman, IndieWire, 23 Jan. 2026
The Beast of Bray Road, the Hodag, the Wendigo—those Midwestern monsters that lurk in the woods, stories told to children as warnings across a flickering summer fire.
—Literary Hub, 22 Jan. 2026
That often means judiciously using ammo while relying heavily on a knife to fend off the monsters on the island.
—Gieson Cacho, Mercury News, 22 Jan. 2026
This can happen when two large galaxies collide; their central monsters can eventually merge, creating a larger black hole.
—Phil Plait, Scientific American, 22 Jan. 2026
Luke and his rebels arrive in trucks with even more monsters.
—Monica Mercuri, Forbes.com, 21 Jan. 2026
In Percy Jackson and the Olympians, the Disney+ series adapted from Rick Riordan's bestselling book series, Walker Scobell plays the titular character, a demigod navigating the dangerous world of gods and monsters.
—Julia Moore, PEOPLE, 9 Jan. 2026
This bakery, which has been serving Louisville since 1924, offers a wide variety of Mardi Gras items, from King Cakes to cookies, thumbprints, cupcakes and the popular cookie monsters.
—Gege Reed, Louisville Courier Journal, 8 Jan. 2026
David Rooney, HollywoodReporter, 24 Jan. 2026
And the monsters are truly terrifying.
—Alison Foreman, IndieWire, 23 Jan. 2026
The Beast of Bray Road, the Hodag, the Wendigo—those Midwestern monsters that lurk in the woods, stories told to children as warnings across a flickering summer fire.
—Literary Hub, 22 Jan. 2026
That often means judiciously using ammo while relying heavily on a knife to fend off the monsters on the island.
—Gieson Cacho, Mercury News, 22 Jan. 2026
This can happen when two large galaxies collide; their central monsters can eventually merge, creating a larger black hole.
—Phil Plait, Scientific American, 22 Jan. 2026
Luke and his rebels arrive in trucks with even more monsters.
—Monica Mercuri, Forbes.com, 21 Jan. 2026
In Percy Jackson and the Olympians, the Disney+ series adapted from Rick Riordan's bestselling book series, Walker Scobell plays the titular character, a demigod navigating the dangerous world of gods and monsters.
—Julia Moore, PEOPLE, 9 Jan. 2026
This bakery, which has been serving Louisville since 1924, offers a wide variety of Mardi Gras items, from King Cakes to cookies, thumbprints, cupcakes and the popular cookie monsters.
—Gege Reed, Louisville Courier Journal, 8 Jan. 2026
Recent Examples of Synonyms for monsters
Noun
-
Directed by Joel Thompson, the centuries-old tale of demons, magic spells and a deal with the devil is brought to life with special effects and theatrical stage haze.—
Philip Potempa,
Chicago Tribune,
22 Jan. 2026
-
Liberato was forced to stop and wrestle with inner demons that even a dose of magic mushrooms couldn’t tamp down.—
Frederick Dreier,
Outside,
22 Jan. 2026
Noun
-
Annual land and sea surface temperature anomalies each year compared to the 20th century average show ocean temperatures respond more slowly but are also rising.—
Gary W. Yohe,
The Conversation,
10 Jan. 2026
-
As global anomalies escalate, Wyle and her patients find themselves on the run, racing against time to unlock the secrets hidden in their altered genetics.—
Todd Spangler,
Variety,
6 Jan. 2026
Noun
-
Picking winners and losers, heroes and villains, pathways to success and failure, generates excitement for an event and manufactures a sense of urgency for maximal viewing pleasure.—
Brady Brickner-Wood,
New Yorker,
28 Jan. 2026
-
As the country moves toward the 2026 midterms, the temptation will be to treat our current racial, political, and economic crisis as a sharp break from the past; to search for singular villains; and to imagine that a return to normalcy is just one election away.—
Heather Ann Thompson,
The Atlantic,
26 Jan. 2026
Noun
-
Lawmakers were pushing a measure, similar to those enacted in Australia and Canada, that would have forced tech giants to pay online publishers for the ransacking, er, use, of their journalistic content.—
Mark Z. Barabak,
Mercury News,
27 Jan. 2026
-
China’s tech sector—including giants like Alibaba and Kuaishou, and small startups like DeepSeek, Moonshot, and MiniMax—is locked in a race to lead the way in AI.—
Nicholas Gordon,
Fortune,
27 Jan. 2026
Noun
-
Shrek and Fiona are now both full-time ogres, but Fiona’s parents (John Cleese and Julie Andrews) aren’t too thrilled, as a particularly tense family dinner scene makes clear.—
Skyler Trepel September 1,
EW.com,
1 Sep. 2025
Noun
-
To stay ahead of potential future COVID-19 mutations, scientists at UC San Diego in La Jolla and international collaborators set their sights on the past.—
Noah Lyons,
San Diego Union-Tribune,
7 Jan. 2026
-
Americans are being urged to be extra vigilant this winter, as a suite of influenza A mutations has created a dominant virus strain that's spreading more rapidly and evading our natural and therapeutic abilities to fight infection.—
New Atlas,
New Atlas,
5 Jan. 2026
Noun
-
For much of his career, Skarsgård has gravitated toward characters who weaponize physical presence — Vikings, tech titans and mythic brutes whose power is immediately legible.—
Clayton Davis,
Variety,
9 Jan. 2026
-
Credit to producers Tim Zinnemann and George Linder for selecting a veritable array of brutes to wage battle with Arnold.—
Duane Byrge,
HollywoodReporter,
13 Nov. 2025
Noun
-
But for the population, which stands at 384 whales, to rebound from its substantial losses in the past decade, many more calves will need to be born.—
Rachel Raposas,
PEOPLE,
8 Jan. 2026
-
The fewer than 100 Rice’s whales remaining live across the Gulf but are most common off Florida, and the opinion estimated that drilling will kill nine Rice’s whales through vessel strikes and seriously injure three more over the next 45 years.—
Christian Wagley,
The Orlando Sentinel,
3 Jan. 2026
Cite this Entry
“Monsters.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/monsters. Accessed 29 Jan. 2026.
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