Formidable

3 definitions found

From The Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.48 [gcide]:

  Formidable \For"mi*da*ble\, a. [L. formidabilis, fr. formidare
     to fear, dread: cf. F. formidable.]
     Exciting fear or apprehension; impressing dread; adapted to
     excite fear and deter from approach, encounter, or
     undertaking; alarming.
     [1913 Webster]


  
           They seemed to fear the formodable sight. --Dryden.
     [1913 Webster]
  
           I swell my preface into a volume, and make it
           formidable, when you see so many pages behind. --Drydn.
  
     Syn: Dreadful; fearful; terrible; frightful; shocking;
          horrible; terrific; tremendous.
          [1913 Webster]

From WordNet (r) 2.0 [wn]:

  formidable
       adj 1: extremely impressive in strength or excellence; "a
              formidable opponent"; "the challenge was formidable";
              "had a formidable array of compositions to his
              credit"; "the formidable army of brains at the Prime
              Minister's disposal"
       2: inspiring fear; "the formidable prospect of major surgery";
          "a tougher and more redoubtable adversary than the
          heel-clicking, jackbooted fanatic"- G.H.Johnston;
          "something unnerving and prisonlike about high gray wall"
          [syn: {redoubtable}, {unnerving}]

From Moby Thesaurus II by Grady Ward, 1.0 [moby-thes]:

  126 Moby Thesaurus words for "formidable":
     Herculean, abstruse, alarming, appalling, arduous, astonishing,
     astounding, awe-inspiring, awesome, awful, brutal, burdensome,
     challenging, complex, conspicuous, critical, daunting, delicate,
     demanding, difficile, difficult, dire, direful, dread, dreaded,
     dreadful, earnest, effortful, egregious, exacting, exceptional,
     extraordinary, fabulous, fantastic, fatal, fateful, fell, freaky,
     frightening, frightful, ghastly, ghoulish, grave, grim, grisly,
     gruesome, hairy, hard, hard-earned, hard-fought, heavy, hideous,
     horrendous, horrible, horrid, horrific, horrifying, imposing,
     impressive, incredible, indomitable, intimidating, intricate,
     jawbreaking, knotted, knotty, labored, laborious, macabre, marked,
     marvelous, mean, menacing, mighty, mind-blowing, mind-boggling,
     morbid, no picnic, not easy, notable, noteworthy, noticeable,
     of mark, onerous, operose, outstanding, overwhelming, petrifying,
     portentous, powerful, prodigious, redoubtable, remarkable,
     rigorous, rough, rude, rugged, schrecklich, serious,
     set with thorns, severe, shocking, signal, sober, solemn, spiny,
     staggering, steep, strenuous, striking, superior, terrible,
     terrific, terrifying, thorny, ticklish, toilsome, tough,
     tremendous, tricky, unbelievable, uncommon, uphill, weighty,
     wicked, wonderful