adjective
-
of or relating to mountains
a mountainous region
-
like a mountain, esp in size or impressiveness
Other Word Forms
- mountainously adverb
- mountainousness noun
- nonmountainous adjective
- nonmountainously adverb
- semimountainous adjective
- semimountainously adverb
- unmountainous adjective
Etymology
Origin of mountainous
First recorded in 1400–50, mountainous is from the late Middle English word mounteynous. See mountain, -ous
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.
In mountainous areas, such as Big Bear, several rattlesnakes will live together in dens.
From Los Angeles Times • Apr. 1, 2026
A thick blanket of haze hovered over the horizon when BBC Thai visited Tirayut and other families in Chiang Mai, covering what once were mountainous views.
From BBC • Mar. 31, 2026
After an hour on a freeway passing through suburban towns of countless rows of identical worker housing, we turned onto a more rustic road, headed into the country’s mountainous region.
From Slate • Mar. 30, 2026
He was cheated by money changers at the border and was trying to figure out how to get back to Sar-e-Pol province in the north, hundreds of kilometres away on difficult, mountainous roads.
From Barron's • Mar. 11, 2026
The Italian woman had a mass of tight black curls, starting at her forehead, that rose in a mountainous pompadour and cascaded down her back.
From "The Bell Jar" by Sylvia Plath
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.
