colossal
adjUK /kəˈlɒsəl/ · US /kəˈlɑsəl/
Etymology From French colossal, formed from Latin colossus, from Ancient Greek κολοσσός (kolossós, “giant statue”).
1
Extremely large or on a great scale.
- A single puppy can make a colossal mess.
- Private-equity nabobs bristle at being dubbed mere financiers.[…]Much of their pleading is public-relations bluster. Clever financial ploys are what have made billionaires of the industry’s veterans. “Operational improvement” in a portfolio company has often meant little more than promising colossal bonuses to sitting chief executives if they meet ambitious growth targets. That model is still prevalent today.2013 June 22, “Engineers of a different kind”, in The Economist, volume 407, number 8841, page 70:
1 more example
- What is wrong with you, you colossal fucking creep⁉ You found the only possible wrong answer to that question! “What’s your favorite color? Hitler.”2017 April 23, “Ivanka & Jared”, in Last Week Tonight with John Oliver, season 4, episode 10, John Oliver (actor), via HBO:
2
Amazingly spectacular; extraordinary; epic.
- "It's just the very biggest thing that I ever heard of!" said I, though it was my journalistic rather than my scientific enthusiasm that was roused. "It is colossal. You are a Columbus of science who has discovered a lost world."1912, Arthur Conan Doyle, The Lost World […], London; New York, N.Y.: Hodder and Stoughton, →OCLC:
- Derived terms
- colossally, colossalness, colossal squid, hypercolossal, mega-colossal, supercolossal, ultracolossal
- Related terms
- colosseum, colossus