colossal

English

WOTD – 15 April 2006

Etymology

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

Pronunciation

• (Received Pronunciation) IPA^(key): /kəˈlɒsəl/
• (General American, dialects of Canada) IPA^(key): /kəˈlɑsəl/

  • Audio (California):

    (file)

• (Canada, dialects of the US) IPA^(key): /kəˈlɒsəl/
• (General Australian) IPA^(key): /kəˈlɔsəl/

  • Audio (Queensland):

    (file)

• (New Zealand) IPA^(key): /kəˈlɒsəl/
• Rhymes: -ɒsəl

Adjective

colossal (comparative more colossal, superlative most colossal)

1. Extremely large or on a great scale.

   A single puppy can make a colossal mess.

   • 2013 June 22, “Engineers of a different kind”, in The Economist, volume 407, number 8841, page 70:

     Private-equity nabobs bristle at being dubbed mere financiers. […] Much of their pleading is public-relations bluster. Clever financial ploys are what have made billionaires of the industry’s veterans. “Operational improvement” in a portfolio company has often meant little more than promising colossal bonuses to sitting chief executives if they meet ambitious growth targets. That model is still prevalent today.

   • 2017 April 23, “Ivanka & Jared”, in Last Week Tonight with John Oliver, season 4, episode 10, John Oliver (actor), via HBO:

     What is wrong with you, you colossal fucking creep⁉ You found the only possible wrong answer to that question! “What’s your favorite color? Hitler.”

2. Amazingly spectacular; extraordinary; epic.
   • 1912, Arthur Conan Doyle, The Lost World […], London; New York, N.Y.: Hodder and Stoughton, →OCLC:

     "It's just the very biggest thing that I ever heard of!" said I, though it was my journalistic rather than my scientific enthusiasm that was roused. "It is colossal. You are a Columbus of science who has discovered a lost world."

Synonyms

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

Derived terms

• colossally
• colossalness
• colossal squid
• hypercolossal
• mega-colossal
• supercolossal
• ultracolossal

Related terms

• colosseum
• colossus

Translations

extremely large

• Arabic: ضَخْم (ḍaḵm), هَائِل (hāʔil), جَبَّار (jabbār)
• Belarusian: каласа́льны (kalasálʹny), велічэ́зны (vjeličézny), веліза́рны (vjelizárny), вялі́зны (vjalízny), аграма́дны (ahramádny)
• Bulgarian: огро́мен (bg) (ogrómen), колоса́лен (bg) (kolosálen)
• Catalan: colossal (ca)
• Chinese:

  Mandarin: 巨大的 (zh) (jùdà de)

• Czech: kolosální (cs), ohromný (cs), obrovský (cs)
• Danish: kolossal (da)
• Dutch: kolossaal (nl)
• Esperanto: kolosa (eo), supermezura
• Finnish: valtava (fi), jättiläismäinen (fi)
• French: colossal (fr)
• German: riesig (de), gewaltig (de), immens (de), kolossal (de), riesengroß (de), ungeheuer (de)
• Greek: κολοσσιαίος (el) (kolossiaíos)

  Ancient: κολοσσικός (kolossikós), κολοσσιαῖος (kolossiaîos)

• Irish: ábhalmhór
• Italian: colossale (it)
• Japanese: 巨大な (ja) (きょだいな, kyodai na)
• Kazakh: зор (zor)
• Korean: 거대하다 (ko) (geodaehada)
• Kurdish:

  Central Kurdish: مەزن (ckb) (mezn)

  Northern Kurdish: debdebe (ku), dêwasa

• Latin: colossēus
• Macedonian: џиновски (džinovski), колоса́лен (kolosálen), огромен (ogromen)
• Norwegian:

  Bokmål: kolossal (no)

  Nynorsk: kolossal

• Persian: ژنده (fa) (žande)
• Polish: kolosalny (pl), ogromny (pl), olbrzymi (pl)
• Portuguese: colossal (pt)
• Romanian: colosal (ro)
• Russian: колосса́льный (ru) (kolossálʹnyj), грома́дный (ru) (gromádnyj), грандио́зный (ru) (grandióznyj), огро́мный (ru) (ogrómnyj), гига́нтский (ru) (gigántskij)
• Serbo-Croatian:

  Cyrillic: ко̏лоса̄лан, о̏гро̄ман

  Roman: kȍlosālan (sh), ȍgrōman (sh)

• Slovak: kolosálny, ohromný, obrovský
• Slovene: kolosalen, ogromen (sl)
• Spanish: colosal (es), descomunal (es)
• Swedish: kolossal (sv)
• Turkish: devasa (tr)
• Tày: cải luông
• Ukrainian: колоса́льний (kolosálʹnyj), величе́зний (velyčéznyj)
• Vietnamese: đồ sộ

Anagrams

• alcosols

French

Etymology

From colosse +‎ -al.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /kɔ.lɔ.sal/

• Audio:

  (file)

Adjective

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

1. colossal, huge

   Synonyms: énorme, gigantesque, titanesque

Derived terms

• calmar colossal

Descendants

• → English: colossal
• → German: kolossal

Further reading

• “colossal”, in Trésor de la langue française informatisé [Digitized Treasury of the French Language], 2012.

Italian

Etymology

Pseudo-anglicism, derived from colossal. First attested in 1986.

Noun

colossal m (invariable)

1. (film, theater) high-budget film or play with a high production value, ensemble cast, etc.

Portuguese

Etymology

From colosso +‎ -al.

Pronunciation

• (Brazil) IPA^(key): /ko.loˈsaw/ [ko.loˈsaʊ̯]

 

• (Portugal) IPA^(key): /ku.luˈsal/ [ku.luˈsaɫ]

• (Portugal) IPA^(key): /ku.luˈsal/ [ku.luˈsaɫ]
  • (Southern Portugal) IPA^(key): /ku.luˈsa.li/

• Rhymes: (Portugal) -al, (Brazil) -aw
• Hyphenation: co‧los‧sal

Adjective

colossal m or f (plural colossais)

1. colossal (extremely large)

   Synonyms: gigante, enorme

Further reading

• “colossal”, in Dicionário infopédia da Língua Portuguesa (in Portuguese), Porto: Porto Editora, 2003–2025
• “colossal”, in Dicionário Priberam da Língua Portuguesa (in Portuguese), Lisbon: Priberam, 2008–2025