tremendous
Americanadjective
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extraordinarily great in size, amount, or intensity.
a tremendous ocean liner; tremendous talent.
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extraordinary in excellence.
a tremendous movie.
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dreadful or awful, as in character or effect; exciting fear; frightening; terrifying.
adjective
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vast; huge
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informal very exciting or unusual
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informal (intensifier)
a tremendous help
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archaic terrible or dreadful
Synonym Usage
See huge.
Other Word Forms
Derived Forms
Etymology
Origin of tremendous
First recorded in 1625–35; from Latin tremendus “dreadful, to be shaken by,” equivalent to trem(ere) “to shake, quake” + -endus gerund suffix
Explanation
Tremendous means extraordinarily large in size, extent, amount, power, or degree. It can also mean really marvelous and fantastic — or really awful and terrible. We often use tremendous if something is super wonderful. If someone comes into your office and tells you you just won a big contract and are getting a huge bonus, you might exclaim, “Tremendous!” Tremendous comes from the Latin for "trembling," and is connected with fear. Something tremendous can be big in a terrifying way, like the tremendous noise of an approaching hurricane, or a tremendous tidal wave about to crash on the shore.
Vocabulary lists containing tremendous
Bud, Not Buddy
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Living Large: Synonyms for "Big"
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The Launch of Sputnik 1
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Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
In his endorsement posted to Truth Social on Monday, Trump wrote that Kean was a "Tremendous Advocate of our America First Agenda" and "is working tirelessly".
From BBC • Jun. 2, 2026
And in the meantime, audiences still want diverse stories and will show up to authentic movies they feel represent them, said Jeremiah Abraham, chief executive of multicultural marketing and communications firm Tremendous.
From Los Angeles Times • Mar. 7, 2025
In 2021, my husband, my sister and I signed up for a five-day Tremendous Tawas Lake Huron tour run by Pardson, the Ohio company that publishes Bird Watcher’s Digest magazine.
From New York Times • Jul. 20, 2023
The exhibit, titled “A Tremendous Machine” after Anderson’s call of the race, has followed Secretariat’s Triple Crown path, traveling to Louisville, Kentucky, Baltimore and now Elmont, New York.
From Seattle Times • Jun. 10, 2023
Tremendous efforts were made by his opponents to oust him, and the contest was one of the sharpest ever known in the annals of New Brunswick.
From The Canadian Portrait Gallery - Volumes 1 to 4 by Dent, John Charles
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
