formidability
formidability noun: the state of being formidable.
Noun
formidability (usually uncountable, plural formidabilities)
- The state of being formidable.
- A Mackintosh has been taken, who reduces their formidability, by being sent to raise two clans, and with orders, if they would not rise, at least to give out they had risen, for that three clans would leave the Pretender, unless joined by those two.1890, Horace Walpole, Letters of Horace Walpole
- As Damien Hirst’s diamond-encrusted platinum skull has recently indicated, Death’s formidability often encourages extravagance. Mr. Fabre covers a skull in brilliantly colored beetle shells; Mr. Van Oost casts one in silver (with a hand poking its eyes out).2007 October 10, Roberta Smith, “Going the Way of All Flesh, Artistically”, in New York Times
Forms of formidability
| plural | formidabilities |
|---|
Origin of formidability
From Latin formīdō (“to fear, dread”) + -ability.
Questions about formidability
- What does formidability mean?
- Formidability means the state of being formidable.
- What part of speech is formidability?
- Formidability is a noun.
- What is the plural of formidability?
- The plural of formidability is formidabilities.
Words near formidability in the dictionary
Source and license
Adapted from Wiktionary: formidability (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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Cite this entry: “formidability.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/formidability. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.