supercalifragilisticexpialidocious
Syllables: su·per·cal·i·frag·i·lis·tic·ex·pi·a·li·do·cious/ˌsuːpəkælɪˌfɹæd͡ʒɪlɪstɪkˌɛkspiælɪˈdəʊʃəs//ˌsupəɹˌkæləˌfɹæd͡ʒəˌlɪstɪkˌɛkspiˌæləˈdoʊʃəs/
supercalifragilisticexpialidocious adjective: fantastic, marvellous, wonderful.
Adjective
supercalifragilisticexpialidocious (not comparable)
- Fantastic, marvellous, wonderful.
- I believe I am the sole originator of it, or at least, I have my own interpretation of its pronunciation. "Supercaliflawjalisticexpialadoshus" is the word to which I refer. […] It implies all that is grand, great, glorious, splendid, superb, wonderful,—well, all that is...Ben Zimmer (23 April 2012), “Word Routes: Tracking Down the Roots of a ‘Super’ Word”, in Thinkmap Visual Thesaurus
- SUPERCALAFAJALISTICKESPIALADOJUS w[ords] & m[usic] Gloria Parker & Barney Young © Life Music, Inc. 12Dec49 EU187738[1949 December 12 (date registered), Gloria Parker, Barney Young, Catalog of Copyright Entries (3rd Series), volume 3, part 5B (Unpublished Music), number 1, Washington, D.C.: Copyright Office, the...
- Synonyms:
- awesome, based, beat, beatific, bewildering, blissful, celestial, delightful, divine, enchanting
Examples of supercalifragilisticexpialidocious in a sentence
- By comparison with the present transcribers, I'm sure my performance would be supercalifragilisticexpialidocious.2010, Rose Madeline Mula, “Beyond My Wildest Dreams”, in The Beautiful People and Other Aggravations, Gretna, La.: Pelican Publishing...
- This is a real biggie so pay attention—I still pinch myself occasionally to even believe I did this; it was supercalifragilisticexpialidocious.2011 October, Mary B. Allberry, “Guess What?”, in I Ain’t Done Yet, Victoria, B.C.: FriesenPress, →ISBN, page 91:
Synonyms of supercalifragilisticexpialidocious
30 more synonymsFewer synonyms
- extraordinary
- fabulous
- fantabulosa
- fantabulous
- fascinating
- finger-lickin' good
- frabjous
- grandeur
- grandiose
- grand
- great
- heavenlike
- heavenly
- impressive
- inspiring
- lovely jubbly
- luxurious
- magnificent
- majestic
- major
- marvellous/marvelous
- mirandous
- mystifying
- phenomenal
- selly
- splendid
- stupefying
- stupendous
- unbelievable
- wild
Origin of supercalifragilisticexpialidocious
Possibly a fanciful elaboration of super (“better than average, wonderful”) (compare super- (prefix denoting something superior in status or title, in potency or power, etc.)), with -istic (“suffix meaning ‘of or relating to’ forming adjectives from nouns”) and -ious (suffix forming adjectives from nouns, denoting the presence of a quality in any degree (typically an abundance)). Various explanations of the other elements of the word have been suggested, but none of them are supported by convincing evidence. One by the American linguist Richard Lederer (born 1938) in his book Crazy English (1989) is super- + cali- (a variant of calli- (prefix meaning ‘beautiful’)) + fragilistic- (from fragile (“delicate”)) + expiali- (from expiate (“to atone or make reparation for”)) + docious (“amenable to order, docile”), suggesting that the word means “atoning for extreme and delicate beauty [while being] highly educable”. For the -docious ending, compare braggadocious (“exhibiting braggadocio, characterized by empty boasts”), first attested in American English in 1853. The word was popularized by its use in the song “Supercalifragilisticexpialidocious” from the 1964 film Mary Poppins, written...
Words formed from supercalifragilisticexpialidocious
Words that rhyme with supercalifragilisticexpialidocious
Questions about supercalifragilisticexpialidocious
- What does supercalifragilisticexpialidocious mean?
- Supercalifragilisticexpialidocious means fantastic, marvellous, wonderful.
- How do you use supercalifragilisticexpialidocious in a sentence?
- By comparison with the present transcribers, I'm sure my performance would be supercalifragilisticexpialidocious.
- What part of speech is supercalifragilisticexpialidocious?
- Supercalifragilisticexpialidocious is an adjective.
- How do you pronounce supercalifragilisticexpialidocious?
- Supercalifragilisticexpialidocious is pronounced /ˌsuːpəkælɪˌfɹæd͡ʒɪlɪstɪkˌɛkspiælɪˈdəʊʃəs/ (UK).
Words near supercalifragilisticexpialidocious in the dictionary
Source and license
Adapted from Wiktionary: supercalifragilisticexpialidocious (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: Supercalifragilisticexpialidocious.ogg, En-us-supercala.ogg.
Cite this entry: “supercalifragilisticexpialidocious.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/supercalifragilisticexpialidocious. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.