Formidable \For"mi*da*ble\, a. [L. formidabilis, fr. formidare
to fear, dread: cf. F. formidable.]
Exciting fear or apprehension; impressing dread; adapted to
excite fear and deter from approach, encounter, or
undertaking; alarming.
[1913 Webster]
They seemed to fear the formodable sight. --Dryden.
[1913 Webster]
I swell my preface into a volume, and make it
formidable, when you see so many pages behind. --Drydn.
Syn: Dreadful; fearful; terrible; frightful; shocking;
horrible; terrific; tremendous.
[1913 Webster]
The Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.48
formidable
adj 1: extremely impressive in strength or excellence; "a
formidable opponent"; "the challenge was formidable";
"had a formidable array of compositions to his
credit"; "the formidable army of brains at the Prime
Minister's disposal"
2: inspiring fear; "the formidable prospect of major surgery";
"a tougher and more redoubtable adversary than the
heel-clicking, jackbooted fanatic"- G.H.Johnston;
"something unnerving and prisonlike about high gray wall"
[syn: redoubtable, unnerving]
WordNet (r) 2.0
126 Moby Thesaurus words for "formidable":
Herculean, abstruse, alarming, appalling, arduous, astonishing,
astounding, awe-inspiring, awesome, awful, brutal, burdensome,
challenging, complex, conspicuous, critical, daunting, delicate,
demanding, difficile, difficult, dire, direful, dread, dreaded,
dreadful, earnest, effortful, egregious, exacting, exceptional,
extraordinary, fabulous, fantastic, fatal, fateful, fell, freaky,
frightening, frightful, ghastly, ghoulish, grave, grim, grisly,
gruesome, hairy, hard, hard-earned, hard-fought, heavy, hideous,
horrendous, horrible, horrid, horrific, horrifying, imposing,
impressive, incredible, indomitable, intimidating, intricate,
jawbreaking, knotted, knotty, labored, laborious, macabre, marked,
marvelous, mean, menacing, mighty, mind-blowing, mind-boggling,
morbid, no picnic, not easy, notable, noteworthy, noticeable,
of mark, onerous, operose, outstanding, overwhelming, petrifying,
portentous, powerful, prodigious, redoubtable, remarkable,
rigorous, rough, rude, rugged, schrecklich, serious,
set with thorns, severe, shocking, signal, sober, solemn, spiny,
staggering, steep, strenuous, striking, superior, terrible,
terrific, terrifying, thorny, ticklish, toilsome, tough,
tremendous, tricky, unbelievable, uncommon, uphill, weighty,
wicked, wonderful
Moby Thesaurus II by Grady Ward, 1.0
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