stupendous

English

Etymology

First attested from 1547, from Late Latin stupendus (“stunning, amazing”), from the verb stupeō (“(I) am stunned”). Doublet of stupend (which is obsolete), and related to stupor and stupid.

Pronunciation

• (General American) IPA^(key): /stuˈpɛndəs/
• (Received Pronunciation) IPA^(key): /stjuˈpɛndəs/

• Audio (Southern England):

  (file)

• Rhymes: -ɛndəs

Adjective

stupendous (comparative more stupendous, superlative most stupendous)

1. Astonishingly great or large; huge; enormous.

   One cannot appreciate how stupendous the Matterhorn is without seeing it.

   • 1831, L[etitia] E[lizabeth] L[andon], chapter V, in Romance and Reality. […], volume II, London: Henry Colburn and Richard Bentley, […], →OCLC, page 80:

     The entrance to Fonthill—that truly cloud-capt palace, so fantastic and so transitory—was by two stupendous doors, which seemed to defy the strength of giants.

   • 1834, Edward George Bulwer-Lytton, The Last Days of Pompeii‎^[1]:

     Over the broadest there seemed to spring a cragged and stupendous arch, from which, as from the jaws of hell, gushed the sources of the sudden Phlegethon.

2. Of stunning excellence or degree; marvelous.

   The renovator created a stupendous new look for our house.

Synonyms

• colossal, enormous, huge, marvelous, prodigious, terrific, tremendous
• See also Thesaurus:large

Antonyms

• stupid
• See also Thesaurus:small

Derived terms

• stupendously
• stupendousness

Related terms

• stupid
• stupor

Translations

astonishingly great or large

• Bulgarian: изумителен (bg) (izumitelen)
• Dutch: verbazend (nl), verbazingwekkend (nl), kolossaal (nl), overweldigend (nl)
• French: merveilleux (fr)
• Hindi: विस्मयकारी (vismaykārī), ग़ज़ब (ġazab)
• Japanese: 途轍もない (ja) (とてつもない, totetsumonai)
• Macedonian: о́громен (ógromen), колоса́лен (kolosálen)
• Norwegian: fantastisk (no)
• Russian: грома́дный (ru) (gromádnyj), огро́мный (ru) (ogrómnyj), колосса́льный (ru) (kolossálʹnyj)
• Spanish: groso (es) (Southern Cone)

of stunning excellence

• Bulgarian: поразителен (bg) (porazitelen)
• Hungarian: rendkívüli (hu)
• Japanese: 途轍もない (ja) (とてつもない, totetsumonai)
• Macedonian: изво́нреден (izvónreden), неверо́јатен (neverójaten)
• Portuguese: estupendo (pt)
• Russian: грандио́зный (ru) (grandióznyj), изуми́тельный (ru) (izumítelʹnyj)
• Spanish: estupendo (es), de buten, de bute, groso (es) (Chile)

References

• Random House Webster's Unabridged Electronic Dictionary, 1987-1996.