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PRODIGIOUS
| Pronunciation (US): |  | (GB): | |
I. (adjective)
Sense 1
Meaning:
So great in size or force or extent as to elicit awe
Example:
stupendous demand
Synonyms:
colossal; prodigious; stupendous
Classified under:
Similar:
big; large (above average in size or number or quantity or magnitude or extent)
Derivation:
prodigy (an impressive or wonderful example of a particular quality)
Sense 2
Meaning:
Far beyond what is usual in magnitude or degree
Example:
the young Mozart's prodigious talents
Synonyms:
exceeding; exceptional; olympian; prodigious; surpassing
Classified under:
Similar:
extraordinary (beyond what is ordinary or usual; highly unusual or exceptional or remarkable)
Sense 3
Meaning:
Of momentous or ominous significance
Example:
a prodigious vision
Synonyms:
portentous; prodigious
Classified under:
Adjectives
Similar:
important; significant (important in effect or meaning)
Derivation:
prodigy (a sign of something about to happen)
Context examples:
Mrs. Heep, with a prodigious sniff, resumed her knitting.
(David Copperfield, by Charles Dickens)
Her prodigious innocence appalled him, freezing on his lips all ardors of speech, and convincing him, in spite of himself, of his own unworthiness.
(Martin Eden, by Jack London)
Could swim like a duck, paddled round the castle till he came to a little door guarded by two stout fellows, knocked their heads together till they cracked like a couple of nuts, then, by a trifling exertion of his prodigious strength, he smashed in the door, went up a pair of stone steps covered with dust a foot thick, toads as big as your fist, and spiders that would frighten you into hysterics, Miss March.
(Little Women, by Louisa May Alcott)
The only other evidence which I can adduce is from the log of the SS. Friesland, a Dutch-American liner, which asserts that at nine next morning, Start Point being at the time ten miles upon their starboard quarter, they were passed by something between a flying goat and a monstrous bat, which was heading at a prodigious pace south and west.
(The Lost World, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)
Nothing remained to him but his thirst, a prodigious possession in itself that grew more prodigious with every sober breath he drew.
(White Fang, by Jack London)
They would often spring, and bound, and leap, with prodigious agility.
(Gulliver's Travels into several remote nations of the world, by Jonathan Swift)
But if I had more room, I should take a prodigious delight in improving and planting.
(Mansfield Park, by Jane Austen)
Five hundred pounds would be a prodigious increase to their fortunes!
(Sense and Sensibility, by Jane Austen)
John Silver, he said, you're a prodigious villain and imposter—a monstrous imposter, sir.
(Treasure Island, by Robert Louis Stevenson)
Mr. Peggotty, to relieve it, took two prodigious lobsters, and an enormous crab, and a large canvas bag of shrimps, out of his pockets, and piled them up in Ham's arms.
(David Copperfield, by Charles Dickens)
