[syn: grotesque, monstrous]
The Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.48:
Monstrous \Mon"strous\, adv.
Exceedingly; very; very much. "A monstrous thick oil on the
top." --Bacon.
[1913 Webster]
And will be monstrous witty on the poor. --Dryden.
[1913 Webster]
The Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.48:
Monstrous \Mon"strous\ (m[o^]n"str[u^]s), a. [OE. monstruous, F.
monstrueux, fr. L. monstruosus, fr. monstrum. See Monster.]
1. Marvelous; strange. [Obs.]
[1913 Webster]
2. Having the qualities of a monster; deviating greatly from
the natural form or character; abnormal; as, a monstrous
birth. --Locke.
[1913 Webster]
He, therefore, that refuses to do good to them whom
he is bound to love . . . is unnatural and monstrous
in his affections. --Jer. Taylor.
[1913 Webster]
3. Extraordinary in a way to excite wonder, dislike,
apprehension, etc.; -- said of size, appearance, color,
sound, etc.; as, a monstrous height; a monstrous ox; a
monstrous story.
[1913 Webster]
4. Extraordinary on account of ugliness, viciousness, or
wickedness; hateful; horrible; dreadful.
[1913 Webster]
So bad a death argues a monstrous life. --Shak.
[1913 Webster]
5. Abounding in monsters. [R.]
[1913 Webster]
Where thou, perhaps, under the whelming tide
Visitest the bottom of the monstrous world.
--Milton.
[1913 Webster]
WordNet (r) 3.0 (2006):
monstrous
adj 1: abnormally large
2: shockingly brutal or cruel; "murder is an atrocious crime";
"a grievous offense against morality"; "a grievous crime";
"no excess was too monstrous for them to commit" [syn:
atrocious, flagitious, grievous, monstrous]
3: distorted and unnatural in shape or size; abnormal and
hideous; "tales of grotesque serpents eight fathoms long that
churned the seas"; "twisted into monstrous shapes" [syn:
grotesque, monstrous]
Moby Thesaurus II by Grady Ward, 1.0:
311 Moby Thesaurus words for "monstrous":
Atlantean, Brobdingnagian, Cyclopean, Gargantuan, Herculean,
Homeric, a bit much, abandoned, abject, abominable, absurd,
abysmal, amplitudinous, appalling, arrant, astronomic,
astronomical, atrocious, awesome, awful, awfully, bad, bandy,
bandy-legged, barbaric, barbarous, baroque, base, beastly,
beggarly, beneath contempt, beyond belief, big, bizarre, black,
blamable, blameworthy, blemished, bloated, boundless, bowlegged,
brutal, brutish, bulky, cacogenic, cheesy, club-footed, cockamamie,
colossal, contemptible, cosmic, cracking, crazy, criminal, cruel,
crummy, crying, damnable, dark, debased, defaced, deformed,
degraded, deplorable, depraved, desperate, despicable, detestable,
dire, dirty, disfigured, disgraceful, disgusting, dreadful,
dwarfed, egregious, elephantine, enormous, epic, evil, exaggerated,
excessive, execrable, exorbitant, extensive, extravagant, extreme,
extremely, fabulous, fancy, fantastic, fateful, fetid, fiendish,
filthy, flagitious, flagrant, flatfooted, foolish, foul, freak,
freakish, frightful, fulsome, galactic, gargantuan, gargoylish,
ghoulish, giant, giantlike, gigantic, glaring, gluttonous,
grandiose, grave, grievous, grisly, gross, grotesque, gruesome,
hateful, heinous, hellish, heroic, hideous, high, high-flown,
horrendous, horrible, horrid, horrific, horrifying, huge,
hyperbolic, hypertrophied, ill-made, ill-proportioned, ill-shaped,
immeasurable, immense, immoderate, impressive, improper,
incontinent, incredible, infamous, infinite, inhuman, iniquitous,
inordinate, insensitive, intemperate, jumbo, king-size, knavish,
knock-kneed, lamentable, large, laughable, little, loathsome,
lousy, low, low-down, ludicrous, lumpen, magnificent, malformed,
mammoth, mangy, marred, massive, massy, mean, measly, merciless,
mightily, mighty, misbegotten, miserable, misproportioned,
misshapen, monster, monumental, mortal, mountainous, mutilated,
nasty, naughty, nauseating, nauseous, nefarious, noisome,
nonsensical, notorious, obnoxious, odious, offensive, ominous,
out of bounds, out of shape, out of sight, outrageous, outre,
outsize, overbig, overdeveloped, overgreat, overgrown, overlarge,
overmuch, overweening, paltry, peccant, petty, pigeon-toed,
pitiable, pitiful, poky, poor, poppycockish, portentous,
preposterous, prodigious, profound, pug-nosed, rachitic, rank,
rattling, regrettable, repellent, reprehensible, reprobate,
reptilian, repulsive, revolting, rickety, ridiculous, rococo,
rotten, ruthless, sad, savage, scabby, scandalous, schlock,
scrubby, scruffy, scummy, scurvy, shabby, shameful, shameless,
shapeless, shocking, shoddy, showy, simous, sinful, sizable, small,
snapping, snub-nosed, sordid, spacious, splendid, squalid, steep,
stiff, stumpy, stupendous, superb, swaybacked, talipedic, teratic,
teratogenic, teratoid, terrible, titanic, too bad, too much,
towering, tremendous, truncated, ugly, unbridled, unclean,
unconscionable, undue, unforgivable, unmentionable, unpardonable,
unreasonable, unrestrained, unshapely, unspeakable, unworthy, vast,
vicious, vile, villainous, voluminous, weighty, weird, wicked,
wild, woeful, worst, worthless, wretched, wrong