colossal
UK/kəˈlɒsəl//kəˈlɑsəl/
colossal adjective: extremely large or on a great scale.
Adjective
colossal (comparative more colossal, superlative most colossal)
- 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...2013 June 22, “Engineers of a different kind”, in The Economist, volume 407, number 8841, page 70
- 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
colossal meaning in Hindi, Tamil, Urdu and Bengali
colossal in Hindi
- colossal, giant, great, legendary, larger than life
- दिग्गज diggaj
- colossal, gigantic, massive
- दिग्गजा diggajā
colossal in Tamil
- மாபெரு, மாபெரும், மிகப்பெரிய
colossal in Urdu
- عظیم, جسیم القد
colossal in Bengali
- বিশাল, প্রকাণ্ড, পরিমাণে অত্যন্ত বড়
More languagesFewer languages
- colossal in Telugu
- బ్రహ్మాండము brahmāṇḍamu
- colossal in Malayalam
- അത്യധികം വലുതായ, ഭീമമായ, അതിഗംഭീരമായ, ബൃഹത്തായ
- colossal in Kannada
- ಬಾರೀ ದೊಡ್ಡ, ಬೃಹತ್ ಪ್ರಮಾಣದ, ಅತ್ಯಧಿಕ ಪ್ರಮಾಣದ, ಅಪಾರಗಾತ್ರದ
- colossal in Arabic
- ضَخْم ḍaḵm, هَائِل hāʔil, جَبَّار jabbār
- colossal in Persian
- ژنده žande
- colossal in Vietnamese
- đồ sộ
Examples of colossal in a sentence
- “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.2013 June 22, “Engineers of a different kind”, in The Economist, volume 407, number 8841, page 70:
- What is wrong with you, you colossal fucking creep⁉ You found the only possible wrong answer to that question!2017 April 23, “Ivanka & Jared”, in Last Week Tonight with John Oliver, season 4, episode 10, John Oliver (actor), via HBO:
Synonyms of colossal
Forms of colossal
| comparative | more colossal |
|---|---|
| superlative | most colossal |
Origin of colossal
From French colossal, formed from Latin colossus, from Ancient Greek κολοσσός (kolossós, “giant statue”).
Words formed from colossal
Phrases with colossal
Words that rhyme with colossal
- fossil
- jostle
- apostle
- supercolossal
- throstle
- aglossal
- basiglossal
- basioglossal
- dossal
- genioglossal
- glossal
- hypoglossal
10 more rhymesFewer rhymes
Questions about colossal
- What does colossal mean?
- Colossal means extremely large or on a great scale.
- What is colossal in Hindi?
- Colossal in Hindi is दिग्गज (diggaj), दिग्गजा (diggajā). See Colossal meaning in Hindi.
- How do you use colossal in a sentence?
- “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.
- What part of speech is colossal?
- Colossal is an adjective.
- How do you pronounce colossal?
- Colossal is pronounced /kəˈlɒsəl/ (UK).
Words near colossal in the dictionary
Source and license
Adapted from Wiktionary: colossal (page history and authors); दिग्गज (Hindi) (page history and authors); colossal (Tamil Wiktionary) (page history and authors); colossal (Urdu Wiktionary) (page history and authors); Colossal (Bengali Wiktionary) (page history and authors); బ్రహ్మాండము (Telugu) (page history and authors); colossal (Malayalam Wiktionary) (page history and authors); colossal (Kannada Wiktionary) (page history and authors). Text available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 license. Word.ws reformatted the entry and added links. Wiktionary data of 2026-09-02.
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Pronunciation audio from Wikimedia Commons, each file under its own free license: en-us-colossal.ogg, en-au-colossal.ogg.
Cite this entry: “colossal.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/colossal. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.