Monstrous

How to spell monstrous

9 letters · 2 syllables

How to pronounce monstrous

Say the part in capitals loudest.

What does monstrous mean?

1. adjectiveExtremely large, hideous, or shockingly wicked.

Monstrous in a sentence

• The abandoned factory cast a monstrous shadow over the whole street.

• The court condemned the monstrous cruelty of the crime.

Where does monstrous come from?

Language of origin: Latin

This word traces back to the Latin monstrum, which originally meant an omen or a divine portent, something unnatural sent as a warning. That noun grew from the verb monere, meaning 'to warn' or 'to advise', the same root that gives us 'monitor' and 'admonish'. The adjective form monstrosus described something prodigious or unnatural, and English took it through Old French as 'monstrous' in the late 1300s. The earliest English uses leaned on the idea of the strange and unnatural before settling into today's senses of huge, hideous, or shockingly cruel. A useful spelling note is that 'monster' keeps its 'e', but when '-ous' is added that 'e' is dropped, so the trap is writing 'monsterous' instead of the correct monstrous.

How the word is built

• monstr- (from Latin monstrum: omen, monster)
• -ous (full of, having the quality of)