marvelous
Americanadjective
-
superb; excellent; great.
a marvelous show.
- Synonyms:
- wonderful
- Antonyms:
- terrible
-
such as to cause wonder, admiration, or astonishment; surprising; extraordinary.
- Synonyms:
- miraculous, amazing, wondrous
- Antonyms:
- commonplace
-
improbable or incredible.
the marvelous events of Greek myth.
- Synonyms:
- unbelievable
Usage
What does marvelous mean? Marvelous means wonderful, extraordinary, fabulous, superb, excellent. In this sense, it is often used to praise things like works of art and artistic performances. Marvelous is the adjective form of the noun marvel, which most commonly means a thing that causes wonder. Marvelous can mean causing wonder, as well as improbable, but both of these senses are much less common than its primary meaning of “wonderful.”In British English, it is commonly spelled marvellous. Example: That was absolutely marvelous! What a wonderful show! Bravo!
Other Word Forms
- marvellousness noun
- marvelously adverb
- supermarvelous adjective
- supermarvelously adverb
- supermarvelousness noun
- unmarvellous adjective
- unmarvellously adverb
- unmarvellousness noun
- unmarvelous adjective
- unmarvelously adverb
- unmarvelousness noun
Etymology
Origin of marvelous
First recorded in 1300–50; Middle English merve(il)lous, from Middle French merveilleus; equivalent to marvel + -ous
Explanation
Something marvelous is unusual, wonderful, and almost miraculous. Finding a bag of gold would be marvelous by any standard. Something that's decent or even simply good isn't marvelous. A marvelous thing needs to be really stunning, exceptional, or hard to believe. Marvelous things make people marvel at them — they're amazing and a little shocking, like a miracle. Winning the lottery would be marvelous. Finding out that ice cream is actually good for you would be marvelous. And if you want to make someone feel extra nice, tell them their new hat looks marvelous.
Vocabulary lists containing marvelous
Thumbs Up: Synonyms for "Good"
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Wow! Synonyms for "Amazing"
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The Miraculous Journey of Edward Tulane
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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.
Good thing, too, since they see nothing but a marvelous, AI-assisted future.
From Salon • Mar. 26, 2026
“I just think he’s a marvelous teacher,” Gayner said.
From The Wall Street Journal • Mar. 15, 2026
How marvelous that Duvall made his screen debut as Boo Radley in the 1962 classic “To Kill a Mockingbird.”
From Los Angeles Times • Feb. 17, 2026
The director, who like Mr. Coppola has cast a lead actor who isn’t conventionally handsome, has, also like Mr. Coppola, outfitted him with hair that is somewhere between entrancingly marvelous and distractingly ridiculous.
From The Wall Street Journal • Feb. 5, 2026
More than anything, she wished to trace the path of each marvelous creature, from egg—laid on a particular host plant—to larva, to pupa, to adult.
From "The Girl Who Drew Butterflies: How Maria Merian's Art Changed Science" by Joyce Sidman
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.
