colossal

(kə-lŏs'əl)
adj.
Of a size, extent, or degree that elicits awe or taxes belief; immense. See synonyms at enormous.

[French, from Latin colossus, colossus. See colossus.]

colossally co·los'sal·ly adv.

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In its physical sense 'of immense size', colossal dates from the early 18th century, and was not listed by Dr Johnson (1755). The first use in its figurative meaning 'remarkable, splendid' is attributed to Mark Twain:

I do not suppose that any other statesman ever had such a colossal sense of humour, combined with the ability to totally conceal it—American Claimant, 1892.

This use, which verges on the colloquial, should be used sparingly:

This astonishing journey took a colossal amount of determination—B. Taylor, 2002.

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adjective

Of extraordinary size and power: behemoth, Brobdingnagian, Bunyanesque, cyclopean, elephantine, enormous, gargantuan, giant, gigantesque, gigantic, herculean, heroic, huge, immense, jumbo, mammoth, massive, massy, mastodonic, mighty, monster, monstrous, monumental, mountainous, prodigious, pythonic, stupendous, titanic, tremendous, vast. Informal walloping. Slang whopping. See big/small/amount.

adj

Definition: huge
Antonyms: small, teeny, tiny

IN BRIEF: Huge, enormous.

Olivia ate every bite of the colossal hamburger.

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For a list of words related to colossal, see:

• Large, tall, or fat
• Types of Sculpture - colossal: extremely large-scale sculpture, larger than heroic

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See words rhyming with "colossal."

  See crossword solutions for the clue Colossal.

Common misspelling(s) of colossal

• collosal

Dansk (Danish)
adj. - kæmpestor, kolossal, med mere end en søjleetage

Nederlands (Dutch)
kolossaal, geweldig, met meer dan een verdieping van zuilen

Français (French)
adj. - colossal, (fig) colossal

Deutsch (German)
adj. - ungeheuer, gewaltig, kolossal, riesenhaft

Ελληνική (Greek)
adj. - κολοσσιαίος, τεράστιος

Italiano (Italian)
colossale

Português (Portuguese)
adj. - colossal

Русский (Russian)
колоссальный

Español (Spanish)
adj. - colosal, gigantesco

Svenska (Swedish)
adj. - kolossal, väldig, jättestor (vard.)

中文（简体）(Chinese (Simplified))
巨大的, 巨像似的

中文（繁體）(Chinese (Traditional))
adj. - 巨大的, 巨像似的

한국어 (Korean)
adj. - 거대한, 훌륭한

日本語 (Japanese)
adj. - 巨大な, 通しの, すばらしい, 途方もない

العربيه (Arabic)
‏(صفه) ضخم, كبير, عملاق‏

עברית (Hebrew)
adj. - ‮ענקי, עצום, כביר‬

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