immense

[ih-mens]

adjective

1. vast; huge; very great.

   an immense territory.

   Synonyms: extensive

2. immeasurable; boundless.

3. Informal.,  splendid.

   You did an immense job getting the project started.

immense

/ ɪˈmɛns /

adjective

1. unusually large; huge; vast

2. without limits; immeasurable

3. informal,  very good; excellent

Other Word Forms

• immensely adverb
• immenseness noun

Word History and Origins

Origin of immense¹

First recorded in 1400–50; late Middle English, from Latin immēnsus “huge, boundless, immeasurable,” equivalent to im- “un-” + mēnsus, past participle of mētīrī “to measure”; im- ²

Word History and Origins

Origin of immense¹

C15: from Latin immensus, literally: unmeasured, from _im- (not) + mensus measured, from mētīrī to measure

Synonym Study

See huge.

Example Sentences

“Rather than feeling joy, I recognize the immense challenges ahead. I believe there are mountains upon mountains of work,” she said after her victory was announced.

Read more on The Wall Street Journal

"It's a great joy -- an immense relief mixed with anxiety, fear and sorrow for the families who haven't and won't get to experience this joy," she said.

Read more on Barron's

The immense Oakland Hills fire in 1991, which destroyed 2,500 structures, exploded after firefighters believed they contained an earlier six-acre fire the day before.

Read more on Los Angeles Times

Using the energy from this rotation, M87* powers a particle jet expelled at nearly the speed of light, stretching across an immense 5,000 light-years.

Read more on Science Daily

It has, he says, "presented policing with a number of challenges and put immense pressure on resources".

Read more on BBC

Related Words

• boundless 
• colossal 
• endless 
• enormous 
• extensive 
• gigantic 
• great 
• huge 
• immeasurable 
• infinite 
• limitless 
• mammoth 
• massive 
• monstrous 
• monumental 
• prodigious 
• tremendous 
• vast