earthshaking

or earth-shak·ing

[ urth-shey-king ]

adjective
  1. imperiling, challenging, or affecting basic beliefs, attitudes, relationships, etc.

Origin of earthshaking

1
First recorded in 1350–1400; Middle English; see origin at earth, shaking
  • Also earth-shat·ter·ing, earth·shat·ter·ing [urth-shat-er-ing] /ˈɜrθˌʃæt ər ɪŋ/ .

Other words from earthshaking

  • earthshaker, noun

Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2024

How to use earthshaking in a sentence

  • As Wolff argues, "Absent an earth-shaking idea, Facebook will look forward to slowing or declining growth in a tapped-out market."

  • The world was passing through a reaction destined to lead to the earth-shaking catastrophe of 1914.

    The Canadian Dominion | Oscar D. Skelton
  • With the impatience of one who has a good earth-shaking shock ready to administer, he watched his wandering relatives disembark.

    Ralestone Luck | Andre Norton
  • Martial music and earth-shaking charges moved him for a moment, as they moved others for an hour or a day.

    The Long Roll | Mary Johnston
  • I tried weak joviality: "It can't be anything of earth-shaking gravity."

    Question of Comfort | Les Collins
  • When the answer came, he was once again in action, the guns chugging and rumbling, the earth shaking.

    Gladiator | Philip Wylie

British Dictionary definitions for earthshaking

earthshaking

/ (ˈɜːθˌʃeɪkɪŋ) /


adjective
  1. informal of enormous importance or consequence; momentous

Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012