stupendous
Americanadjective
-
causing amazement; astounding; marvelous.
stupendous news.
- Synonyms:
- extraordinary
-
amazingly large or great; immense.
a stupendous mass of information.
- Synonyms:
- prodigious, gigantic, vast, colossal
adjective
Other Word Forms
Etymology
Origin of stupendous
1965–70; < Latin stupendus, gerund of stupēre to be stunned; see -ous
Explanation
Stupendous means amazing or awesome. You just won a million dollars and are donating it to charity? That’s stupendous! While you might think of stupid as a mean word for someone who isn’t smart, it can also mean senseless or stunned. If something stuns you so much that you are amazed, it is stupendous. Think of a stupendous performance or stupendous scenery. When something is big enough to astound, also use this word. The tower rose to a stupendous height. It would take a stupendous effort to improve your D in history to an A!
Vocabulary lists containing stupendous
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List 6
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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.
Yet to think of the contrast between the two places only in these terms is to underestimate the stupendous achievement we commemorate this weekend.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jul. 2, 2026
Seth Meyers is stupendous at hooks and jabs delivered at a lightning pace, but straightly, leaving the performance of absurdity to news headlines.
From Salon ● May 21, 2026
As Damon Hill put it on our 5 Live commentary, a stupendous weekend for the young Italian, who really put Mercedes team-mate George Russell in the shade.
From BBC ● May 3, 2026
Take the stupendous performance of Apple’s stock during Cook’s tenure.
From MarketWatch ● Apr. 21, 2026
In this scenario, Man comes on as a stupendous lethal force, and the earth is pictured as something delicate, like rising bubbles at the surface of a country pond, or flights of fragile birds.
From "The Lives of a Cell" by Lewis Thomas
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.
