almighty
Americanadjective
-
having unlimited power; omnipotent, as God.
- Synonyms:
- all-powerful, sovereign, supreme
-
having very great power, influence, etc..
The almighty press condemned him without trial.
-
Informal. extreme; terrible.
He's in an almighty fix.
adverb
noun
adjective
-
all-powerful; omnipotent
-
informal (intensifier)
an almighty row
adverb
noun
Other Word Forms
Etymology
Origin of almighty
before 900; Middle English; Old English ælmihtig, ealmihtig, equivalent to æl-, eal- all (cognate with Old Norse al- < *ol-o- ) + mihtig ( miht, meaht might 2 + -ig -y 1 ); cf. Alemanni
Explanation
Anything that's almighty is extremely powerful. In fact, being almighty gives something (or someone) an infinite amount of power. Originally, the adjective almighty was capitalized and used to refer to God. It comes from the Old English ælmihtig, "all-powerful." You could also describe something that's almighty as "omnipotent" or even "godlike." Today people often use almighty in a sarcastic or ironic way to talk about things that exert a ridiculously huge amount of control over people: "All he cares about is the almighty dollar."
Vocabulary lists containing almighty
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.
He spent a year making an almighty nuisance of himself.
From The Wall Street Journal • May 29, 2026
Usurping incumbent openers Abhishek Sharma, the top-ranked T20 batter in the world and Sanju Samson - India's match-winner in the semi-final and final of this year's World Cup - will be an almighty challenge.
From BBC • May 7, 2026
But Spurs face an almighty task to turn it around in the second leg on 18 March after losing 5-2.
From BBC • Mar. 10, 2026
The meeting with the Kazakh Rybakina will be her fourth Melbourne final in a row, and she is expecting an almighty tussle.
From Barron's • Jan. 30, 2026
Dumbledore’s office gave an almighty lurch — Harry was thrown forward and pitched headfirst into the substance inside the basin — But his head did not hit the stone bottom.
From "Harry Potter And The Goblet Of Fire" by J. K. Rowling
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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.