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View synonyms for colossal

colossal

[ kuh-los-uhl ]

adjective

  1. extraordinarily great in size, extent, or degree; gigantic; huge.
  2. of or resembling a colossus.
  3. (initial capital letter) Architecture. noting or pertaining to a classical order whose columns or pilasters span two or more stories of a building.


colossal

/ kəˈlɒsəl /

adjective

  1. of immense size; huge; gigantic
  2. (in figure sculpture) approximately twice life-size Compare heroic
  3. Alsogiant architect of or relating to the order of columns and pilasters that extend more than one storey in a façade
“Collins English Dictionary — Complete & Unabridged” 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012


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Derived Forms

  • coˈlossally, adverb
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Other Words From

  • col·os·sal·i·ty [kol-, uh, -, sal, -i-tee], noun
  • co·lossal·ly adverb
  • super·co·lossal adjective
  • super·co·lossal·ly adverb
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Word History and Origins

Origin of colossal1

First recorded in 1705–15; coloss(us) + -al 1
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Synonym Study

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Example Sentences

Standing around on top of the ground trying to get your arms around this colossal problem is futile.

At exactly two miles from the starting point, we turned to our right and saw a colossal pyramid dune the color of burnt parchment.

When Qwikster proved a colossal failure, the mistake was Hastings’s own.

Not half a mile into the journey, I was surrounded by colossal redwoods.

The problem is that all this heating and magnetic confinement requires colossal amounts of energy.

There was The Brittany Murphy Story, dubbed a “colossal mess” by reviewers.

We, in olden days, had towering kooks and colossal villains.

But the quarantine, lifted just 10 days in, was a colossal failure.

Colossal geological forces collided: the Pacific Plate, the North American Plate and the Farralon Plate.

A tiny handful of families, it is true, have managed to keep colossal wealth in their own hands over a period of many centuries.

A colossal steam "traveller" had ceaselessly carried great blocks of stone and long steel girders from point to point.

Profiting by this, Benjy quietly moved away round a colossal buttress of the berg, and took refuge in an ice-cave.

Lady Victoria's earlier mood of colossal indifference had been dissipated by her son's return.

You first enter a large fore-court, at the extremity of which a colossal gateway leads into the inner courts.

If ever I started upon a colossal piece of folly, it was this same trip abroad.

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More About Colossal

What does colossal mean?

Colossal describes something as being very large in size, degree, or amount, as in I went to a colossal shopping mall that stretched for a mile. If something is colossal, it is enormous, gigantic, or massive.

Colossal can also be used to describe a large degree of something, that is, a large amount or a large extent, like a colossal amount of boxes or a colossal advantage in the playoffs.

Less commonly, colossal describes something as resembling a colossus, which is a very large statue, as in The large man was so colossal that he blocked the entire doorway.

Example: Tyrannosaurus rex was a colossal dinosaur that towered over many of the smaller animals.

Where does colossal come from?

The first records of colossal come from around 1705. It is created from the noun colossus, which comes from the Greek kolossós, meaning “statue.”

Both colossal and colossus make a reference to the Colossus of Rhodes, an enormous statue of a Greek god that was one of the Seven Wonders of the World. The statue was said to be over 100 feet tall, and it was once a common myth that it straddled the harbor of Rhodes. The statue fell after an earthquake that occurred in the third century BCE.

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What are some other forms related to colossal?

  • clossality (noun)
  • colossally (adjective)
  • supercolossal (adjective)
  • supercolossally (adverb)

What are some synonyms for colossal?

What are some words that share a root or word element with colossal

What are some words that often get used in discussing colossal?

How is colossal used in real life?

Colossal is a common word used to describe things that are very large.

 

 

Try using colossal!

Which of the following things would NOT be described as colossal?

A. The Pacific Ocean
B. a mouse
C. Jupiter
D. a 100-story skyscraper

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ColossaeColosseum