Marvelous

How to spell marvelous

9 letters · 3 syllables

How to pronounce marvelous

Say the part in capitals loudest.

What does marvelous mean?

1. adjectiveExtremely good, impressive, or causing wonder and delight.

Marvelous in a sentence

• The chef prepared a marvelous meal for the anniversary dinner.

• They enjoyed marvelous weather throughout the entire holiday.

Where does marvelous come from?

Language of origin: Latin

This word traces back to the Latin verb mirari, meaning 'to wonder at' or 'to be astonished', which itself grew from the adjective mirus, meaning 'wonderful' or 'astonishing'. From mirari came mirabilis, 'worthy of wonder', whose neuter plural mirabilia meant literally 'wonderful things' or 'marvels'. Old French reshaped this into merveille (a marvel) and the adjective merveillos, and English borrowed both during the 1300s, giving us the noun 'marvel' and the adjective that became 'marvelous'. The same mirari root still surfaces in relatives such as 'mirror', 'miracle', and 'admire', all of them tied to the idea of looking at something astonishing. The single-l spelling shown here is the American form; British and traditional Canadian writers usually double the l as 'marvellous', and that l count is the main thing to watch.

How the word is built

• marvel (a wonder, from Latin mirabilia 'wonderful things')
• -ous (full of, characterised by)

British and American spelling

Marvelous is the American spelling. British English spells it marvellous.