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colossal

 - 3 dictionary results

co⋅los⋅sal

  [kuh-los-uhl]
Use colossal in a Sentence
–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) + -al 1

Related forms:
col⋅os⋅sal⋅i⋅ty  [kol-uh-sal-i-tee] , noun
co⋅los⋅sal⋅ly, adverb

Synonyms:
1. See gigantic.
Dictionary.com Unabridged
Based on the Random House Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2009.
Cite This Source Link To colossal
co·los·sal   (kə-lŏs'əl)   
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.
The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition
Copyright © 2009 by Houghton Mifflin Company.
Published by Houghton Mifflin Company. All rights reserved.
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Word Origin & History

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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