massive

[mas-iv]

SEE MORE SYNONYMS FOR massive ON THESAURUS.COM

adjective

consisting of or forming a large mass; bulky and heavy: massive columns.

large and heavy-looking: a massive forehead.

large in scale, amount, or degree: a massive breakdown in communications; massive reductions in spending.

solid or substantial; great or imposing: massive erudition.

Mineralogy. having no outward crystal form, although sometimes crystalline in internal structure.

Origin of massive

1375–1425; late Middle English (see mass, -ive); replacing Middle English massif < Middle French

Related formsmas·sive·ly, adverbmas·sive·ness, mas·siv·i·ty, noun

Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2019

Related Words for massively

densely, thickly, massively, dully, profoundly, dejectedly, gloomily, ponderously, sluggishly, tediously, wearily

Examples from the Web for massively

Contemporary Examples of massively

Like the financial sector, the housing industry is massively regulated in all sorts of ways.
How Naive is Elizabeth Warren?
Nick Gillespie
December 18, 2014
Like any massively successful property, the Turtles eventually began influencing its audience in unsuspecting ways.
How the ‘Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles’ Inadvertently Caused an Environmental Crisis
Alex Suskind
August 5, 2014
Why [are they] targeting, massively and worldwide, this RAT in particular?
FBI’s Huge Hacker Bust Could Be Bogus
Quinn Norton
May 19, 2014
Meanwhile, sea level rise will emerge as a huge, inexorable and massively expensive problem.
Can Generation Hot Avoid Its Fate?
Mark Hertsgaard
April 5, 2014
What is wrong and embarrassing is the President of the United States reciting a massively discredited factoid.
No, Women Don’t Make Less Money Than Men
Christina Hoff Sommers
February 1, 2014

Historical Examples of massively

"Come as you are," said the Tamburini, who massively stood up.
The Paliser case
Edgar Saltus
He could see her cheek, the cheek that ran too massively into her neck.
Christmas Roses and Other Stories
Anne Douglas Sedgwick
Stress and thrust answer each other directly, simply, massively.
Parallel Paths
Thomas William Rolleston
The city is massively built, but it has a battered look, and no wonder.
Heroic Spain
Elizabeth Boyle O'Reilly
To her eyes the tree stood as massively firm as she had ever seen it.
The Brimming Cup
Dorothy Canfield Fisher

British Dictionary definitions for massively

massive

adjective

(of objects) large in mass; bulky, heavy, and usually solid

impressive or imposing in quality, degree, or scopemassive grief

relatively intensive or large; considerablea massive dose

pathol affecting a large area of the bodya massive cancer

geology

(of igneous rocks) having no stratification, cleavage, etc; homogeneous
(of sedimentary rocks) arranged in thick poorly defined strata

mineralogy without obvious crystalline structure

noun

slang a group of friends or associates; gangthe Staines massive

Derived Formsmassively, adverbmassiveness, noun

Word Origin for massive

C15: from French massif, from masse mass

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

Word Origin and History for massively

massive

adj.

c.1400, from Middle French massif "bulky, solid," from Old French masse "lump" (see mass (n.1)). Related: Massively; massiveness. U.S. Cold War strategy of massive retaliation was introduced by J.F. Dulles in early 1954.

massively in Medicine

massive

[măs′ĭv]

adj.

Large in comparison with the usual amount.

Affecting a large area of bodily tissue; widespread and severe.