Definitions
from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 4th Edition
- adj. Extremely large in amount, extent, or degree; enormous: a tremendous task. See Synonyms at enormous.
- adj. Informal Marvelous; wonderful: had a tremendous time at the theater last night.
- adj. Capable of making one tremble; terrible.
from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License
- adj. awe-inspiring; terrific.
- adj. Notable for its size, power, or excellence.
- adj. Extremely large (in amount, extent, degree, etc.) or great
from the GNU version of the Collaborative International Dictionary of English
- adj. Fitted to excite fear or terror; such as may astonish or terrify by its magnitude, force, or violence; terrible; dreadful
from The Century Dictionary and Cyclopedia
- Such as may or does excite trembling, fear, or awe; overpowering in character or quality; awful; dreadful: as, a tremendous explosion; tremendous invective.
- Hence Such as to excite astonishment or awe; unexampled; wonderful in a high degree; overwhelming; astounding: used intensively or hyperbolically.
- Synonyms Frightful, terrific, horrible, appalling.
from WordNet 3.0 Copyright 2006 by Princeton University. All rights reserved.
- adj. extreme in degree or extent or amount or impact
- adj. extraordinarily good or great ; used especially as intensifiers
- adj. extraordinarily large in size or extent or amount or power or degree
Etymologies
Examples
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You mentioned the word tremendous upside and that sounds bullish from you and knowing you in the past, I haven't heard you talk like that.
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The plant upgrades will make the company better able to produce quickly enough to meet consumer demand for the Volt, which it calls tremendous.
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Abbas said earlier today that he would not be deterred from seeking UN recognition for a Palestinian despite what he described as "tremendous pressure."
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Abbas said earlier Monday that he would not be deterred from seeking U.N. recognition for Palestine despite what he described as "tremendous pressure."
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On Afghanistan, where Poland has about 2,500 troops serving with the International Security Assistance Force ISAF, President Obama recognized what he called the tremendous sacrifices of Poland's military.
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After what it called a tremendous effort, the Coast Guard called off all search efforts yesterday.
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TODD: Still, one historian says, the release of this after Ford's death carries what he calls tremendous gravity, because presidents have historically been hesitant to criticize their successors, unless they felt a compelling need.
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The question, do you agree with Homeland Security Michael Chertoff's assertion that National Guard troops are already having what he calls a tremendous impact on improving border security.
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TODD: Still, one historian says, the release of this after Ford's death carries what he calls tremendous gravity.
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TODD: Still, one historian says the release of this after Ford's death carries what he calls tremendous gravity as for the protocol of former presidents keeping quiet about their successors.
oroboros commented on the word tremendous
Yay! Wordies RULE!!!
October 5, 2007
uselessness commented on the word tremendous
Holy craparoni!
October 5, 2007
sarra commented on the word tremendous
oroboros: pft!
October 5, 2007
oroboros commented on the word tremendous
I'm told that the words hazardous, horrendous, stupendous and tremendous are the only four words that end in 'dous' in the English language. Come on, Wordies, let's prove 'em wrong!
October 5, 2007
brtom commented on the word tremendous
They may talk of a comet, or a burning mountain, or some such bagatelle; but, to me, a modest woman, drest out in all her finery, is the most tremendous object of the whole creation.
Goldsmith, She Stoops, II
January 10, 2007