monstrous
Americanadjective
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frightful or hideous, especially in appearance; extremely ugly.
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shocking or revolting; outrageous.
monstrous cruelty.
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extraordinarily great; huge; immense.
a monstrous building.
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deviating grotesquely from the natural or normal form or type.
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having the nature or appearance of a fabulous monster.
adverb
adjective
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abnormal, hideous, or unnatural in size, character, etc
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(of plants and animals) abnormal in structure
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outrageous, atrocious, or shocking
it is monstrous how badly he is treated
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huge
a monstrous fire
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of, relating to, or resembling a monster
Synonym Usage
See gigantic.
Other Word Forms
Etymology
Origin of monstrous
First recorded in 1350–1400; Middle English word from Latin word mōnstrōsus. See monster, -ous
Explanation
Monstrous is an adjective that describes something gross or shocking. It can refer to the size, shape, or general look of something. If your face or body is monstrous, it's misshapen and horrifying to look at. The word monstrous describes something that you'd like to avoid looking at, if at all possible. The word comes from the Latin monstruosus, which means "unnatural, deviating from the natural order, hideous." When discussing size, monstrous means that something or someone is so huge it's frightening. Monstrous can also describe someone or something that's extremely cruel or brutal, like a monstrous dictator or monstrous lies.
Vocabulary lists containing monstrous
"The Crucible" -- Vocabulary from all 4 Acts
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Metamorphosis
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Words from Shakespearean Insults
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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.
First, China has a monstrous and growing trade surplus.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 28, 2026
A special agent tracked down David Streever while he was on vacation, five months after he emailed then-acting ICE director Todd Lyons after Alex Pretti’s death and called him “a monstrous human being.”
From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 4, 2026
Murray described the campaign against the guga hunt as "monstrous".
From BBC ● Aug. 3, 2026
His real-life geniality provides a stark contrast to some of his most famous roles as monstrous men committing equally hideous deeds.
From Salon ● Jul. 17, 2026
He fought the monsters and freed the earth from them just as Greece freed the earth from the monstrous idea of the unhuman supreme over the human.
From "Mythology: Timeless Tales of Gods and Heroes" by Edith Hamilton
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.
