formidable
UK/fɔːˈmɪdəbəl//ˈfɔɹmɪdəbəl/
formidable adjective: causing fear, dread, awe, or discouragement as a result of size, strength, or some other impressive feature; commanding respect; causing wonder or astonishment.
Adjective
formidable (comparative more formidable, superlative most formidable)
- Causing fear, dread, awe, or discouragement as a result of size, strength, or some other impressive feature; commanding respect; causing wonder or astonishment.
- The latter part of the fifteenth century prepared a train of future events, that ended by raising France to a formidable power, which has ever since been, from time to time, the principal object of jealousy to the other European nations.1823, [Walter Scott], “The Contrast”, in Quentin Durward. […], volume I, Edinburgh: […] [James Ballantyne and Co.] for Archibald Constable and Co.; London: Hurst, Robinson, and Co., →OCLC, page 3
- […] and I am more afraid of those people than I am of Anytus and his colleagues, although they are formidable enough.1954, Plato, translated by Hugh Tredennick, “Socrates on Trial: The Apology”, in The Last Days of Socrates (Penguin Classics), Harmondsworth, Middlesex: Penguin Books, →OCLC, page 20
- Synonyms:
- redoubtable
- Difficult to defeat or overcome.
- a formidable opponent
- As I look back on that week in China two impressions stand out most vividly. One is the awesome sight of the disciplined but wildly—almost fanatically—enthusiastic audience at the gymnastic exhibition in Peking, confirming my belief that we must cultivate China during the next few decades while it...1978, Richard Nixon, RN: the Memoirs of Richard Nixon, Grosset & Dunlap, →ISBN, →LCCN, →OCLC, →OL, page 577
formidable meaning in Hindi, Tamil, Marathi and Urdu
formidable in Hindi
- formidable, dreadful, fearsome
- विकट vikaṭ
- formidable, fierce, ferocious,
- ज़ियाँ ziyā̃
formidable in Tamil
- அஞ்சத் தக்க, எதிர்த்து நிற்க முடியாத, வலிமை மிக்க
formidable in Marathi
- formidable, fearsome
- भीम bhīm
formidable in Urdu
- عظیم, مہیب
More languagesFewer languages
- formidable in Bengali
- অত্যন্ত শক্তিশালী, প্রভাবশালী, শ্রদ্ধার জন্ম দেয়
- formidable in Malayalam
- ഉഗ്രം, അതിഘോരമായ, ഭീഷണം, ഘോരം
- formidable in Kannada
- ಅದ್ಭುತವಾದ, ಅಗಾಧ, ಅಸಾಧಾರಣ, ಹೆದರಿಸುವಂತಹ
- formidable in Punjabi
- ਜ਼ਬਰਦਸਤ
- formidable in Sanskrit
- उग्र ugra
- formidable in Nepali
- दुर्जेय
- formidable in Indonesian
- hebat
Examples of formidable in a sentence
- Otherwise we will one day be confronted with the most formidable enemy that has ever existed in the history of the world.1978, Richard Nixon, RN: the Memoirs of Richard Nixon, Grosset & Dunlap, →ISBN, →LCCN, →OCLC, →OL, page 577:
- Sam Allardyce, the West Ham manager, will be acutely aware that when the stakes are high, Blackpool are simply formidable.2012 May 9, John Percy, “Birmingham City 2 Blackpool 2 (2–3 on agg): Match report”, in Tony Gallagher, editor, The Daily Telegraph, London...
Synonyms of formidable
Forms of formidable
| comparative | more formidable |
|---|---|
| superlative | most formidable |
Origin of formidable
From Middle English formidable, from Old French formidable, formible, from Latin formīdābilis (“formidable, terrible”) (whence -able), from formīdō (“fear, dread”).
Words formed from formidable
Questions about formidable
- What does formidable mean?
- Formidable means causing fear, dread, awe, or discouragement as a result of size, strength, or some other impressive feature; commanding respect; causing wonder or astonishment.
- What is formidable in Hindi?
- Formidable in Hindi is विकट (vikaṭ), ज़ियाँ (ziyā̃). See Formidable meaning in Hindi.
- How do you use formidable in a sentence?
- Otherwise we will one day be confronted with the most formidable enemy that has ever existed in the history of the world.
- What part of speech is formidable?
- Formidable is an adjective.
- How do you pronounce formidable?
- Formidable is pronounced /fɔːˈmɪdəbəl/ (UK).
Words near formidable in the dictionary
Source and license
Adapted from Wiktionary: formidable (page history and authors); ज़ियाँ (Hindi) (page history and authors); formidable (Tamil Wiktionary) (page history and authors); भीम (Marathi) (page history and authors); formidable (Urdu Wiktionary) (page history and authors); formidable (Bengali Wiktionary) (page history and authors); formidable (Olam, E.K. Kurup corpus) (dataset and license); formidable (Kannada Wiktionary) (page history and authors); formidable (Punjabi, IndicTrans2 machine translation) (model and license); formidable (Nepali, IndicTrans2 machine translation) (model and license). 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-formidable.ogg.
Cite this entry: “formidable.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/formidable. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.