monster

See also Monster, mönster, and mønster

English

People wearing costumes of monsters.

Alternative forms

• monstre (obsolete)

Etymology

From Middle English and Middle French monstre, itself from Latin monstrum.

Pronunciation

• (RP) IPA: /ˈmɒnstə(r)/, SAMPA: /"mQnst@(r)/
• (US) enPR: mŏn'stə(r), IPA: /ˈmɑːnstɚ/

• Audio (US)

  (file)

• Rhymes: -ɒnstə(r)

Noun

monster (plural monsters)

1. A terrifying and dangerous, wild or fictional creature.
2. A bizarre or whimsical creature.

   The children decided Grover was a cuddly monster.

3. An extremely cruel or antisocial person, especially a criminal.

   Get away from those children, you meatheaded monster!

4. A horribly deformed person.
5. (figuratively) A badly behaved child, a brat.

   Sit still, you little monster!

6. (informal) Something unusually large.

   Have you seen those powerlifters on TV? They're monsters.

7. (informal) A prodigy; someone very talented in a specific domain.

   That dude playing guitar is a monster.

Derived terms

• Cookie Monster
• corporate monster
• monstrosity
• Frankenstein's monster
• the Loch Ness monster
• monster truck

Related terms

• monstrous
• monstrously

Translations

terrifying dangerous creature

Arabic: وحش (ar) (waHsh) m. Armenian: հրեշ (hy) (hreš) Catalan: monstre (ca) m. Chinese: Mandarin: 妖怪 (cmn) (yāoguài), 怪物 (cmn) (guàiwu), 魔鬼 (cmn) (móguǐ), 妖物 (cmn) (yāowù) Czech: nestvůra (cs) f., příšera (cs) f. Danish: uhyre (da) Dutch: monster (nl) n. Esperanto: monstro (eo) Finnish: hirviö (fi) French: monstre (fr) m. Galician: monstro (gl) m. German: Monster (de) n., Ungeheuer (de) n. Greek: τέρας (el) (téras) n. Hawaiian: tutua Hungarian: szörny (hu) Icelandic: ófreskja (is) Ido: monstro (io) Irish: arracht (ga)

Italian: mostro (it) m. Japanese: 怪物 (ja) (かいぶつ kaibutsu), モンスター (ja) (monsutā), 化け物 (ja) (ばけもの bakemono) Korean: 괴물 (ko) (goemur) Kurdish: دێو (ku) Latgalian: baisūņs Latin: monstrum (la) Latvian: briesmonis (lv), šausmonis (lv) Lithuanian: siaubūnas  (lt), pabaisa (lt) Norwegian: monster (no) n., uhyre (no) n. Old English: þyrs (ang) m., fīfel (ang) n. Polish: potwór (pl) Portuguese: monstro (pt) m. Romanian: monstru (ro) Russian: чудовище (ru) (čudóvišče) n., монстр (ru) (monstr) m. Scottish Gaelic: uile-bheist (gd) m. Serbian: zver (sr) f., zverka (sr) f., čudovište (sr) n., neman (sr) f. Slovak: príšera (sk) Spanish: monstruo (es) m. Tagalog: halimaw (tl) Welsh: anghenfil (cy) m., angenfilod (cy) pl.

bizarre or whimsical creature

Catalan: monstre (ca) m. Dutch: gedrocht (nl) n., monster (nl) Greek: τέρας (el) (téras) n.

Hawaiian: tutua Irish: péist (ga) f. Kurdish: دێو (ku) Russian: урод (ru) (uród) m., чудовище (ru) (čudóvišče) n.

anti-social person, especially a criminal

Catalan: monstre (ca) m. Finnish: hirviö (fi) Galician: monstro (gl) m.

Greek: τέρας (el) (téras) n. Russian: изверг (ru) (ízverg) m., чудовище (ru) (čudóvišče) n., монстр (ru) (monstr) m.

badly behaved child

Catalan: monstre (ca) m., dimoni (ca) m. Dutch: monstertje (nl) n.

Finnish: riiviö (fi) Greek: τέρας (el) (téras) n.

Something unusually large

Catalan: monstre (ca) m.

A prodigy

Catalan: monstre (ca) m.

French: bête (fr) f., monstre (fr) m.

Adjective

monster

1. Very large; worthy of a monster.

   He has a monster appetite.

Synonyms

• (very large): gigantic, monstrous

Translations

very large

Catalan: monstruós (ca) Dutch: monsterachtig (nl), monstrueus (nl) Finnish: hirveä (fi), valtava (fi)

French: monstrueux (fr) Greek: τέρας (el) (téras) Russian: чудовищный (ru) (čudóviščnyj)

Verb

monster (third-person singular simple present monsters, present participle monstering, simple past and past participle monstered)

1. (chiefly Australian) To harass
   • 2009 January 31, Leo Schlink, “Match looms as final for the ages”, Herald Sun:

     Andy Roddick has been monstered by both Federer and Nadal and suffered a 6-2 7-5 7-5 semi-final loss at the hands of the Swiss champion.

Anagrams

• mentors, meronts, metrons

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Dutch

Etymology 1

cognate with English monster

Noun

monster n. (plural monsters, diminutive monstertje)

1. A monster, terrifying and dangerous creature.
2. An extremely antisocial person, especially a criminal.

Derived terms

• monsterachtig
• (monster types): zeemonster n.
• (species): Gilamonster n.

Etymology 2

cognate with English muster

Noun

monster n. (plural monsters, diminutive monstertje)

1. Small, representative quantity of a substance or material, as used for analysis or selection; sample

   De inspectie nam een monster van het water.

   The inspection took a sample of the water.

   We hebben monsters van alle soorten behang.

   We have samples of all types of wallpaper.

Verb

monster

1. first-person singular present indicative of monsteren.
2. imperative of monsteren.

Anagrams

• morsten, stormen, stromen

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Swedish

Pronunciation

• Audio

  (file)

Noun

monster n.

1. A monster, terrifying and dangerous creature.

Declension

Declension of monster

	singular		plural
Neuter	indefinite	definite	indefinite	definite
nominative	monster	monstret	monster	monstren
genitive	monsters	monstrets	monsters	monstrens

Synonyms

• odjur
• vidunder
• best