Stupendous Meaning
/stuˈpɛndəs/Definition, CEFR level B2, pronunciation, examples, and quiz.
Listen pronunciation
Definition
adjAstonishingly great or large; huge; enormous.
adjOf stunning excellence or degree; marvelous.
Sentence Examples
It is a stupendous project.
Winning the contest is a stupendous achievement.
There was a curious mixture of stupendous Samaritanism and tremendous indifference.
CEFR Practice Quiz
The final fireworks display was ____ in the sky and left everyone cheering loudly.
CEFR Practice Quiz (Alternate)
The construction of the great grand cathedral was a ____ achievement that took many decades to finish.
Word Origin & History
First attested from 1547, from Late Latin stupendus (“stunning, amazing”), from the verb stupeō (“(I) am stunned”). Doublet of stupend (which is obsolete), and related to stupor and stupid.
Literary Quotations & Historical Citations
"The entrance to Fonthill—that truly cloud-capt palace, so fantastic and so transitory—was by two stupendous doors, which seemed to defy the strength of giants."
— 1831, L[etitia] E[lizabeth] L[andon], chapter V, in Romance and Reality. […], volume II, London: Henry Colburn and Richard Bentley, […], →OCLC, page 80:
"Over the broadest there seemed to spring a cragged and stupendous arch, from which, as from the jaws of hell, gushed the sources of the sudden Phlegethon."
— 1834, Edward George Bulwer-Lytton, The Last Days of Pompeii:
Explore More B2 Vocabulary Words
CEFR Practice Quiz
The final fireworks display was ____ in the sky and left everyone cheering loudly.
CEFR Practice Quiz (Alternate)
The construction of the great grand cathedral was a ____ achievement that took many decades to finish.