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monstrous

[mon-struh s]
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adjective
  1. frightful or hideous, especially in appearance; extremely ugly.
  2. shocking or revolting; outrageous: monstrous cruelty.
  3. extraordinarily great; huge; immense: a monstrous building.
  4. deviating grotesquely from the natural or normal form or type.
  5. having the nature or appearance of a fabulous monster.
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adverb
  1. extremely; exceedingly; very.
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Origin of monstrous

First recorded in 1350–1400; Middle English word from Latin word mōnstrōsus. See monster, -ous
Related formsmon·strous·ly, adverbmon·strous·ness, noun

Synonyms

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1, 2. horrible, atrocious. 3. See gigantic.
Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2018

Examples from the Web for monstrously

Contemporary Examples

Historical Examples

  • Amy, has it never struck you that somebody is monstrously polite to Mrs General?'

    Little Dorrit

    Charles Dickens

  • Monstrously I was desired to drink to the happiness of the groom.

    Ruggles of Red Gap

    Harry Leon Wilson

  • It planted itself in the centre of the nave and grew there monstrously.

  • He had intended to honour her and she had monstrously dishonoured him.

    Kept in the Dark

    Anthony Trollope

  • Well, you did it well--monstrously well, I will say--for you never flinched an eyelash.

British Dictionary definitions for monstrously

monstrous

adjective
  1. abnormal, hideous, or unnatural in size, character, etc
  2. (of plants and animals) abnormal in structure
  3. outrageous, atrocious, or shockingit is monstrous how badly he is treated
  4. hugea monstrous fire
  5. of, relating to, or resembling a monster
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Derived Formsmonstrously, adverbmonstrousness, noun
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 monstrously

monstrous

adj.

mid-15c., "unnatural, deviating from the natural order, hideous," from Middle French monstrueux, from Latin monstruosus "strange, unnatural, monstrous," from monstrum (see monster). Meaning "enormous" is from c.1500; that of "outrageously wrong" is from 1570s. Earlier form monstruous (late 14c., from Old French monstruous) was "very common in the 16th c." [OED].

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Online Etymology Dictionary, © 2010 Douglas Harper