colossal

English

WOTD – 15 April 2006

Etymology

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

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /kəˈlɒsəl/

• Audio (US)

  (file)

Adjective

colossal (comparative more colossal, superlative most colossal)

1. Extremely large or on a great scale.
   • 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.

   A single puppy can make a colossal mess.

   • 2017 April 23, John Oliver, “Ivanka & Jared”, in Last Week Tonight with John Oliver, season 4, episode 10, 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.”

Synonyms

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

Related terms

• colosseum
• colossus

Translations

extremely large

• Bulgarian: огромен (bg) (ogrómen), колосален (bg) (kolosálen)
• Chinese:

  Mandarin: 巨大 (zh) (jùdà)

• Czech: kolosální
• Dutch: kolossaal (nl)
• Esperanto: supermezura
• Finnish: valtava (fi), jättiläismäinen (fi)
• French: colossal (fr)
• German: kolossal (de)
• Greek: κολοσσιαίος (el) (kolossiaíos)
• Irish: ábhalmhór
• Japanese: 巨大な (きょだい-な, kyodai-na)

• Kurdish: debdebe (ku), dêwasa

  Sorani: مه‌زن‎‎ (ku)

• Macedonian: џиновски m (džínovski), колосален m (kolosálen)
• Persian: ژنده‎‎ (fa) (žande)
• Polish: kolosalny (pl)
• Portuguese: colossal (pt)
• Romanian: colosal (ro)
• Russian: колосса́льный (ru) (kolossálʹnyj), грома́дный (ru) (gromádnyj), грандио́зный (ru) (grandióznyj), огро́мный (ru) (ogrómnyj), гига́нтский (ru) (gigántskij)
• Slovak: kolosálny
• Spanish: colosal
• Turkish: devasa (tr)

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French

Etymology

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

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /kɔ.lɔ.sal/

• audio

  (file)

Adjective

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

1. colossal, huge

Further reading

• “colossal” in le Trésor de la langue française informatisé (The Digitized Treasury of the French Language).

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Portuguese

Etymology

From colosso +‎ -al.

Pronunciation

• (Brazil) IPA^(key): /ˌko.lo.ˈsaw/

Adjective

colossal m, f (plural colossais, comparable)

1. colossal (extremely large)

Synonyms

• gigante, enorme