colossal

English

WOTD – 15 April 2006    

Etymology

From French colossal, formed from Latin colossus, from Ancient Greek κολοσσός (kolossos, “giant statue”).

Pronunciation

• IPA: /kəˈlɒsəl/

• Audio (US)

  (file)

Adjective

colossal (comparative more colossal, superlative most colossal)

1. Extremely large or on a great scale.

   A single puppy can make a colossal mess.

Synonyms

• (extremely large): enormous, giant, gigantic, immense, prodigious, vast
• See also Wikisaurus:gigantic

Translations

extremely large

• Bulgarian: огромен (bg) (ogrómen), колосален (bg) (kolosálen)
• Dutch: kolossaal (nl)
• Finnish: valtava (fi), jättiläismäinen (fi)
• French: colossal (fr)
• German: kolossal (de)
• Greek: κολοσσιαίος (el) (kolossiéos)

• Kurdish:

  Sorani: مه‌زن

• Macedonian: џиновски (mk) (džínovski) m, колосален (mk) (kolosálen) m
• Portuguese: colossal (pt)
• Russian: колоссальный (ru) (kolossálʹnyj), громадный (ru) (gromádnyj), грандиозный (ru) (grandióznyj), огромный (ru) (ogrómnyj), гигантский (ru) (gigántskij)
• Turkish: devasa (tr)

Related terms

• colosseum
• colossus

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French

Etymology

Formed from Latin colossus, from Greek κολοσσος (originally used by Herodotus in reference to statues in ancient Egyptian temples).

Pronunciation

• audio

  (file)

• IPA: /kɔlɔsal/

Adjective

colossal m (feminine colossale, masculine plural colossaux, feminine plural colossales)

1. colossal, huge