monster

UK/ˈmɒnstə(ɹ)/US/ˈmɑnstɚ/

monster noun: a terrifying and dangerous creature, especially one of an imaginary or fictional kind.

Image: Mattes, CC BY-SA 3.0, via Wikimedia Commons

Noun

monster (plural monsters)

A terrifying and dangerous creature, especially one of an imaginary or fictional kind.
- O, 'twas a din to fright a monster's ear,/ to make an earthquake.1610–1611 (date written), William Shakespeare, “The Tempest”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published...
- [T]he monſter [sc. a tiger], rouſed by the noiſe, ſtarted forward, preſented ſuch a viſage of horror, and raiſed ſuch a hideous roar, that the hearts of the bold were contracted, and the nerves of the valiant unſtrung.1769, Firishta, translated by Alexander Dow, Tales translated from the Persian of Inatulla of Delhi, volume I, Dublin: P. and W. Wilson et al., page 6
Synonyms:

beast
1. A cruel, heartless, or antisocial person, especially a criminal.
  - Get away from those children, you monster!
  - I'm not a monster, Tom, well, technically I am / I guess I am...2006, Jonathan Coulton, “Re: Your Brains”, in Thing a Week Two
2. (figuratively, humorous) A badly behaved person, especially a child; a brat.
  - Sit still, you little monster!
  - The rest of the day he heard the children playing kick-the-can, hide-and-seek, Over-Annie-Over, jacks, tops, mibs, and the sound of the little monsters in every shrub and shadow would not let him rest.
3. (informal) A prodigy; someone very talented in a specific domain.
  - That dude playing guitar is a monster.
  - He was a party monster. Able to drink and drug just about any member of the Fleetwood Mac family under the table, he did so with regularity and charm.2009, Carol Ann Harris, Storms: My Life with Lindsey Buckingham and Fleetwood Mac, page 216
(informal) Something very or unusually large.
- Have you seen those powerlifters on TV? They're monsters.
- Although she, for many years had waged continual war against rheumatism, her pleasant face shone like the full moon from under the white head-gear, while she had protected herself against any possible attack of the enemy by a multiplicity of petticoats and jackets; and as an outer fortification she...1886, Peter Christen Asbjø￵rnsen, translated by H.L. Brækstad, Folk and Fairy Tales, page 250
(archaic) A deformed animal or person (especially, a severely deformed one); in previous centuries often taken as an ill omen at the time of its birth. (Offensive when applied to humans in modern usage.)
- The villagers were worried because the weather had been strange and several monsters had been born among the flocks and people.
- Deducting then these cases, we have a large proportion of imperfect foetuses, which belonged to twin conceptions, and in which, therefore, the circulation of the monster may have essentially depended on that of the sound child.1837, Medico-Chirurgical Review, page 465
(archaic, offensive) A disabled person, especially a physically disabled person.
A bizarre or whimsical creature.
- The children decided Grover was a cuddly monster.
A non-player character that player(s) fight against in role-playing games; a mob

Synonyms:

monstrosity

Adjective

monster (not comparable)

(informal) Very large; worthy of a monster.
- He has a monster appetite.
- I turned to Jack and said, "It's supposed to be monster."2004, Rex Pickett, Sideways, page 55
Synonyms:

monstrous, gigantic
(informal) Great; very good; excellent.
- “You did great today,” I told Josh. “You were monster.” “yeah,” he said. “I was monster. Thank you, Charlie.”2010, Andrew Klavan, The Long Way Home, page 231
- Seconds later Nano’s monster throw-in from the left was recycled to the wing-back and, when he produced the most delicious of deliveries, the totally unmarked Lopes drilled home from six yards.2024 August 29, Alex Mills, “Larne headed for Conference League group stages as Andy Ryan hat-trick secures historic Play-Off joy”, in Belfast Telegraph

Verb

monster (third-person singular simple present monsters, present participle monstering, simple past and past participle monstered)

(transitive) To make into a monster; to categorise as a monster; to demonise.
- Animals in our world have been monstered by human action as much as the free beasts of the pre-lapsarian state were monstered by the primal crime.1968, Robert Lowell, Robert Lowell: A Collection of Critical Essays, page 145
- A Tale of Two Cities and Great Expectations feature four cases of women monstered by passion. Madame Defarge is ‘a tigress’, Mrs Joe a virago, Molly (Estella′s criminal mother) ‘a wild beast tamed’ and Miss Havisham a witch-like creature, a ghastly combination of waxwork and skeleton.1983, Michael Slater, Dickens and Women, page 290
Synonyms:

monsterize
(intransitive) To behave as a monster to; to terrorise.
- In 2002, American interrogators on the ground in Afghanistan developed a technique they called “monstering.” The commander “instituted a new rule that a prisoner could be kept awake and in the booth for as long as an interrogator could last.” One “monstering” interrogator engaged in this for thirty...2009, Darius Rejali, Torture and Democracy, page 292
- The interrogators asked members of the 377th Military Police Company to help them with monstering, and the MPs complied.2010, Joshua E. S. Phillips, None of Us Were Like This Before: American Soldiers and Torture, page 39
(Australia) To harass.
- Andy Roddick has been monstered by both Federer and Nadal and suffered a 6-2 7-5 7-5 semi-final loss at the hands of the Swiss champion.2009 January 31, Leo Schlink, “Match looms as final for the ages”, in Herald Sun, archived from the original on 02 Feb 2009
(UK, live action roleplaying games) To play (a series of) non-player characters as directed, without having the responsibility of organising the game itself; generally not limited to playing literal monsters or hostile combatants.
- Are you monstering that event?

Proper noun capitalized: Monster

Monster

A surname.
- And in both cases, a man named Rob Monster – an outspoken born-again Christian and the CEO of a tech company called Epik – made pointed restorations, republishing much of the New Zealand content and putting Gab back online. All in the name, he said, of free speech.2021 December 9, Rob Kuznia, Curt Devine and Yahya Abou-Ghazala, “Epik is a refuge for the deplatformed far right. Here’s why its CEO insists on doing it”, in CNN Business, archived from the original...

monster meaning in Hindi, Tamil, Marathi and Urdu

monster in Hindi

terrifying dangerous creature: राक्षस rākṣas, देव dev, दैत्य daitya, दानव dānav

monster in Tamil

பயங்கர உருவமுடைய உயிர், அரக்கர்

monster in Marathi

terrifying dangerous creature: राक्षस rākṣas

monster in Urdu

terrifying dangerous creature: دیوْ dev, دَرِنْدَہ darinda

More languagesFewer languages

monster in Bengali: দানব danob, দৈত্য dōitto
monster in Telugu: రాక్షసుడు
monster in Malayalam: വികൃതജന്തു, ഭയങ്കരരൂപി, അതിക്രൂരൻ
monster in Kannada: ದೈತ್ಯ daitya
monster in Punjabi: ਰਾਖਸ਼
monster in Gujarati: રાક્ષસ
monster in Odia: ରାକ୍ଷସ
monster in Nepali: राक्षस
monster in Pashto: هيولا hayolã, دېو dew, دېب deb
monster in Tagalog: halimaw
monster in Arabic: وَحْش waḥš
monster in Malay: raksasa
monster in Indonesian: monster
monster in Thai: สัตว์ประหลาด sàt-bprà-làat, ปีศาจ bpii-sàat, อสูร à-sǔun, อสุรกาย à-sù-rá-gaai
monster in Vietnamese: quái vật
monster in Myanmar: ဧရာမသတ္တဝါကြီး erama.satta.wa-kri:, နတ်ဆိုး nathcui:

Examples of monster in a sentence

He caught Grendel's right hand, and still without rising from his bed, stopped the monster's onrush.1961, Norma Lorre Goodrich, “Beowulf”, in The Medieval Myths, New York: The New American Library, page 29:
His origin amongst monsters and man-eaters signals the play's recurrent concerns with monstrification, with eating others or being eaten by them, and with issues of specularity […]1995, Bradley William Johnson, Birthed Effects: Shakespeare's Generation of Monsters, page 67:
"Because of this monster, Jayme won't have her mom and dad at her dance recitals," Mike Closs, Jayme's uncle, said in court.2019 May 24, Joey Peters, “'Embodiment of evil': Jayme Closs kidnapper sentenced to die in prison”, in The Guardian:
So go and tell your friends that I'm a fucking monster / Sugar, spice and torture / Do it for the culture2023, Ennaria, “Monstarrr”:

All 40 example sentences with monster

Synonyms of monster

All synonyms of monster

Forms of monster

Noun
plural	monsters
alternative form (obsolete)	monstre
Verb
third-person singular present	monsters
present participle	monstering
past participle	monstered
past	monstered

Plural of monster: monsters

Origin of monster

From Middle English monstre, from Old French monstre, mostre, moustre, from Latin mōnstrum. Displaced native Old English fīfel and Old English þyrs.

Words formed from monster

Phrases with monster

12 more phrasesFewer phrases

Words that rhyme with monster

Questions about monster

What does monster mean?: Monster means a terrifying and dangerous creature, especially one of an imaginary or fictional kind.
What is monster in Hindi?: Monster in Hindi is राक्षस (rākṣas), देव (dev), दैत्य (daitya). See Monster meaning in Hindi.
How do you use monster in a sentence?: He caught Grendel's right hand, and still without rising from his bed, stopped the monster's onrush.
What part of speech is monster?: Monster can be a noun, an adjective, a verb or a proper noun.
How do you pronounce monster?: Monster is pronounced /ˈmɒnstə(ɹ)/ (UK).
What is the plural of monster?: The plural of monster is monsters.

Words near monster in the dictionary

Adapted from Wiktionary: monster (page history and authors); Monster (page history and authors); monster (Tamil Wiktionary) (page history and authors); monster (Telugu, IndicTrans2 machine translation) (model and license); monster (Malayalam Wiktionary) (page history and authors); ದೈತ್ಯ (Kannada) (page history and authors); monster (Punjabi, IndicTrans2 machine translation) (model and license); monster (Gujarati, IndicTrans2 machine translation) (model and license); monster (Odia, IndicTrans2 machine translation) (model and license); monster (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.

Last updated: 2026-09-02

Pronunciation audio from Wikimedia Commons, each file under its own free license: en-au-monster.ogg.

Cite this entry: “monster.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/monster. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.