immense

English

Etymology

From Middle French immense, from Latin immensus, from in- (“not”) + mensus (“measured”). Compare incommensurable.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ɪˈmɛns/

• Audio (US):

  (file)

• Rhymes: -ɛns

Adjective

immense (comparative immenser, superlative immensest)

1. Huge, gigantic, very large.
   • 1918, W[illiam] B[abington] Maxwell, chapter V, in The Mirror and the Lamp, Indianapolis, Ind.: The Bobbs-Merrill Company, →OCLC:

     Then everybody once more knelt, and soon the blessing was pronounced. The choir and the clergy trooped out slowly, […] , down the nave to the western door. […] At a seemingly immense distance the surpliced group stopped to say the last prayer.

2. (colloquial) Supremely good.
3. (colloquial) Major; to a great degree.
   • 1847 January – 1848 July, William Makepeace Thackeray, Vanity Fair […], London: Bradbury and Evans […], published 1848, →OCLC:

     The gallant young Indian dandies at home on furlough—immense dandies these—chained and moustached—driving in tearing cabs […]

Synonyms

• See also Thesaurus:large

Related terms

• immensely
• immensity

Translations

huge, gigantic, very large

• Arabic: عِمْلاق (ʕimlāq)
• Bulgarian: грамаден (bg) (gramaden), огромен (bg) (ogromen)
• Catalan: immens (ca)
• Cherokee: ᎤᎪᏗᏗ (ugodidi)
• Chinese:

  Mandarin: 廣大 / 广大 (zh) (guǎngdà), 巨大 (zh) (jùdà)

• Czech: ohromný (cs)
• Dutch: immens (nl)
• Esperanto: grandega
• Finnish: suunnaton (fi), suunnattoman suuri, valtava (fi)
• French: immense (fr)
• Galician: inmenso (gl) m
• German: immens (de)
• Greek:

  Ancient: παμμεγέθης (pammegéthēs)

• Hungarian: mérhetetlen (hu), roppant (hu)
• Irish: ábhal
• Italian: immenso (it)
• Japanese: 広大 (ja) (こうだい, kōdai), 莫大 (ja) (ばくだい, bakudai)
• Korean: 거대한 (geodaehan)
• Latin: immensus
• Latvian: milzīgs, gigantisks
• Ligurian: grandìscimu
• Norman: înmense
• Norwegian: gigantisk
• Polish: ogromny (pl), przeogromny (pl), niezmierny (pl)
• Portuguese: imenso (pt), enorme (pt)
• Rapa Nui: nui nui
• Romanian: imens (ro), uriaș (ro)
• Russian: огро́мный (ru) (ogrómnyj), гига́нтский (ru) (gigántskij), непоме́рный (ru) m (nepomérnyj), неизмери́мый (ru) (neizmerímyj)
• Scottish Gaelic: an-mhòr
• Spanish: inmenso (es)
• Thai: มหึมา (má-hʉ̀-maa), มหาศาล (th) (máhăa săan)
• Turkish: kocaman (tr)

supremely good

• Bulgarian: великолепен (bg) (velikolepen)
• Italian: immenso (it)
• Portuguese: maravilhoso (pt), ótimo (pt)
• Russian: потряса́ющий (ru) (potrjasájuščij), сногсшиба́тельный (ru) (snogsšibátelʹnyj)

Noun

immense (plural immenses)

1. (poetic) Immense extent or expanse; immensity.
   • 1882, James Thomson (B. V.), Despotism Tempered by Dynamite:

     The half of Asia is my prison-house,
     Myriads of convicts lost in its Immense—
     I look with terror to my crowning day.

   • 1994, New Times International, numbers 1-8, page 9:

     The events that took place in the immenses of the former USSR three years ago remind one about ancient rule of everyday life which is equally applicable both to daily routine and to politics: […]

Anagrams

• Eminems

Dutch

Pronunciation

• Audio:

  (file)

Adjective

immense

1. inflection of immens:
   1. masculine/feminine singular attributive
   2. definite neuter singular attributive
   3. plural attributive

French

Etymology

Learned borrowing from Latin immēnsus.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /i(m).mɑ̃s/

• Audio:

  (file)

Adjective

immense (plural immenses)

1. immense, huge

   Synonyms: énorme, incommensurable

Derived terms

• immensément
• immensifier

Related terms

• immensité

Further reading

• “immense”, in Trésor de la langue française informatisé [Digitized Treasury of the French Language], 2012.

Italian

Adjective

immense f pl

1. feminine plural of immenso

Latin

Adjective

immēnse

1. vocative masculine singular of immēnsus