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colossal
5 dictionary results for: colossal
Dictionary.com Unabridged (v 1.1) - Cite This Source - Share This
co·los·sal       [kuh-los-uhl] Pronunciation Key
–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.
[Origin: 1705–15; coloss(us) + -al1]

—Related forms
col·os·sal·i·ty       [kol-uh-sal-i-tee] Pronunciation Key, noun
co·los·sal·ly, adverb

—Synonyms 1. See gigantic.
Dictionary.com Unabridged (v 1.1)
Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2006.
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American Heritage Dictionary - Cite This Source - Share This
co·los·sal       (kə-lŏs'əl)  Pronunciation Key 
adj.   Of a size, extent, or degree that elicits awe or taxes belief; immense. See Synonyms at enormous.


[French, from Latin colossus, colossus; see colossus.]

co·los'sal·ly adv.
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The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition
Copyright © 2006 by Houghton Mifflin Company.
Published by Houghton Mifflin Company. All rights reserved.
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Online Etymology Dictionary - Cite This Source - Share This
colossal 
1712 (colossic in the same sense is recorded from 1607), from Fr. colossal, from colosse, from L. colossus, from Gk. kolossos, of unknown origin, used by Herodotus of giant Egyptian statues, and used by Romans of the bronze Apollo at the entrance to the harbor of Rhodes. Colossus is from 1398; generalized sense of "anything awesomely vast" is from 1794.

Online Etymology Dictionary, © 2001 Douglas Harper
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WordNet - Cite This Source - Share This
colossal

adjective
so great in size or force or extent as to elicit awe; "colossal crumbling ruins of an ancient temple"; "has a colossal nerve"; "a prodigious storm"; "a stupendous field of grass"; "stupendous demand" 

WordNet® 3.0, © 2006 by Princeton University.
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Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary - Cite This Source - Share This

Colossal

Co*los"sal\, a. [Cf. F. colossal, L. colosseus. See Colossus.]

1. Of enormous size; gigantic; huge; as, a colossal statue. "A colossal stride." --Motley.

2. (Sculpture & Painting) Of a size larger than heroic. See Heroic.

Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary, © 1996, 1998 MICRA, Inc.
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