noun
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an outrageous or ugly person or thing; monster
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the state or quality of being monstrous
Etymology
Origin of monstrosity
1545–55; < Late Latin mōnstrōsitās, equivalent to Latin mōnstrōs ( us ) monstrous + -itās -ity
Explanation
A monstrosity is something so hideous that you can hardly stand to look at it, like a zombie or an ugly modern building. A monster can certainly be described as a monstrosity, but so can anything that is as frightening or disgusting as a monster. A dictator's cruel regime is a monstrosity, and so is a three-headed fish. The word comes from the Latin word for monster, monstrum, with a root, monere, that means "warn," from the tradition of interpreting monstrous, deformed animals as omens — or warnings — of bad luck.
Vocabulary lists containing monstrosity
The Pigman
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I Am Not Your Perfect Mexican Daughter
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Butterfly Yellow
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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.
If only he’d caught half the heat as Wasserman, he might have retreated long enough to spare us from his juvenile X posts or his next monstrosity of a car design.
From Los Angeles Times • Feb. 19, 2026
Hughes pointed to the impact of the United States' 15-megaton Bravo test at Bikini Atoll in the Marshall Islands on March 1, 1954 -- "equivalent to 1,000 Hiroshima bombs -- an absolute monstrosity".
From Barron's • Jan. 22, 2026
While sympathizing with the need for more affordable housing, Maupin said in a video posted on Facebook that Align’s proposal is “a bit of a monstrosity, from the pictures I’ve seen.”
From The Wall Street Journal • Jan. 18, 2026
Lieberman’s bill fused those two into a new agency, Customs and Border Protection—with Immigration and Customs Enforcement created as an initially small internal police force—then jammed them all into the hydra-headed monstrosity that is DHS.
From Slate • Jan. 15, 2026
We keep walking and not talking until we get to a giant concrete and glass monstrosity of a building.
From "The Sun Is Also a Star" by Nicola Yoon
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.
