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mondo

 - 5 dictionary results

mon⋅do

1[mon-doh]
–noun, plural -dos. Zen.
a question to a student for which an immediate answer is demanded, the spontaneity of which is often illuminating.
Compare koan.


Origin:
1925–30; < Japn mondō, earlier mondau < MChin, equiv. to Chin wèn inquire + reply

mondo

2Slang.
–adverb
1. very; extremely: mondo cool.
–adjective
2. large; big: a mondo history paper.

Origin:
< It mondo world, extracted fr. the film Mondo Cane (1961) and reinterpreted as an adv. in It or pseudo-It phrases such as mondo bizarro very bizarre, lit., bizarre world
Dictionary.com Unabridged
Based on the Random House Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2009.
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mon·do   (mŏn'dō')   
adj.  Enormous; huge: a mondo list of pizza toppings.
adv.  Extremely; very: a mondo big mistake.

[From mondo (bizarro), very bizarre, from Italian Mondo (Cane), (A Dog's) World, name of movie with bizarre scenes that was a cult favorite in the 1960s.]
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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Slang Dictionary
mondo [ˈmɑndo]

  1. mod.
    totally; very much. (California.) : This place is like, so, like, mondo beige.
Dictionary of American Slang and Colloquial Expressions by Richard A. Spears.Fourth Edition.
Copyright 2007. Published by McGraw Hill.
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Word Origin & History

mondo 
"very much, extreme," 1979, from It. mondo "world," from "Mondo cane," 1961 film, lit. "world for a dog" (Eng. title "A Dog's Life"), depicting eccentric human behavior; the word was abstracted from the original title and taken as an intensifier.
Online Etymology Dictionary, © 2001 Douglas Harper
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