prodigious
/prəˈdɪdʒəs
/adjective
1Remarkably or impressively great in extent, size, or degree: the stove consumed a prodigious amount of fuel her memory was prodigious...
- It was obviously a big blow, but we have a prodigious amount of young talent at this club and it will give somebody else a chance to come in and fill his shoes.
- His own prodigious creative talent was fuelled by the stuff of the everyday.
- This process, as can be seen by the previous Lexington example, burns a prodigious amount of fuel.
Synonyms
enormous, huge, colossal, immense, vast, great, massive, gigantic, mammoth, tremendous, considerable, substantial, large, sizeable, inordinate, monumental, mighty, gargantuan;
amazing, astonishing, astounding, staggering, stunning, marvellous, remarkable, wonderful, phenomenal, terrific, miraculous, impressive, striking, startling, sensational, spectacular, extraordinary, exceptional, breathtaking, incredible, unbelievable, unusual
informal humongous, stupendous, fantastic, fabulous, fantabulous, mind-boggling, mind-blowing, flabbergasting, mega, awesome
British informal ginormous
literary wondrous
2 archaic Unnatural or abnormal: rumours of prodigious happenings, such as monstrous births
Synonyms
unnatural, monstrous, grotesque, abnormal
Derivatives
prodigiously
/ adverb [as submodifier]: a prodigiously gifted artist...
- Apart from squandering the resources of a prodigiously gifted cast, the film's greatest shortcoming must be its inability to generate the merest scintilla of dramatic tension around its central narrative thread.
- How Roberts, a prodigiously gifted schoolboy, ended up pursuing a life of crime is a book in itself.
- What is even more remarkable to physicists is the fact that this prodigiously powerful computing device has developed through biological evolution, with all of its apparent uncertainties and redundancies.
prodigiousness
- In fact, youthful prodigiousness is the leading edge of a wider cultural preoccupation with early high performance in our meritocratic era.
- With a fabulous makeover that would make Rikki Lake jealous, Caswell leads the new toy Machine with prodigiousness, ATV-ability, and an unrufflable good nature.
- This prodigiousness may come as a surprise to those familiar with Prewitt's work.
Origin
Late 15th century (in the sense 'portentous'): from Latin prodigiosus, from prodigium 'portent' (see prodigy).