colossal

adjective

kə-ˈlä-səl How to pronounce colossal (audio)
Definition of colossalnext
as in gigantic
unusually large a colossal statue of the town's founder

Synonyms & Similar Words

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Antonyms & Near Antonyms

Synonym Chooser

How is the word colossal distinct from other similar adjectives?

Some common synonyms of colossal are enormous, gigantic, huge, immense, mammoth, and vast. While all these words mean "exceedingly large," colossal applies especially to a human creation of stupendous or incredible dimensions.

a colossal statue of Lincoln

How are the words enormous and immense related as synonyms of colossal?

Enormous and immense both suggest an exceeding of all ordinary bounds in size or amount or degree, but enormous often adds an implication of abnormality or monstrousness.

an enormous expense
an immense shopping mall

When could gigantic be used to replace colossal?

In some situations, the words gigantic and colossal are roughly equivalent. However, gigantic stresses the contrast with the size of others of the same kind.

a gigantic sports stadium

When can huge be used instead of colossal?

Although the words huge and colossal have much in common, huge commonly suggests an immensity of bulk or amount.

incurred a huge debt

When would mammoth be a good substitute for colossal?

While in some cases nearly identical to colossal, mammoth suggests both hugeness and ponderousness of bulk.

a mammoth boulder

When is vast a more appropriate choice than colossal?

The words vast and colossal can be used in similar contexts, but vast usually suggests immensity of extent.

the vast Russian steppes

Example Sentences

Examples are automatically compiled from online sources to show current usage. Read More Opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback.
Recent Examples of colossal Shop outdoor furniture, decor, and more from Kelly Clarkson Home, Martha Stewart, Magnolia Home by Joanna Gaines x Loloi, and other popular brands up to a colossal 89 percent off. — Kelsey Fredricks, People.com, 1 Mar. 2025 Today’s state-of-the-art LLMs, capable of generating text, writing codes and analyzing data, rely on colossal infrastructure for training, storage and inference. — Gerui Wang, Forbes, 28 Feb. 2025 There is a mutual readiness to work to restore relations and gradually solve a colossal amount of systemic strategic problems in the global architecture. — Dan Perry, Newsweek, 28 Feb. 2025 Neymar did invite some of this colossal expectation on himself. — Nick Miller, The Athletic, 26 Feb. 2025 See All Example Sentences for colossal
Recent Examples of Synonyms for colossal
  1. gigantic
  2. huge
  3. enormous
  4. giant
  5. vast
  6. massive
  7. tremendous
  8. mammoth
Adjective
  • Acoustic Sounds occupies a hodgepodge of squat industrial buildings in Salina, a city of about 50,000 near the geographic center of the 48 contiguous states, where grain elevators and a gigantic frozen pizza plant jut out from the flat plains landscape.
    — Chris Stirewalt, The Hill, 7 Mar. 2025
  • Some knobby with new growth, some short or gigantic, some suffering or shrunken, some reaching over paths and roads.
    — Hazlitt, Hazlitt, 5 Mar. 2025
Definition of gigantic
Adjective
  • The Atlanta Braves suffered a huge hit to the roster last season when their ace Spencer Strider went down with a torn UCL.
    — Mark Davis, Newsweek, 17 Mar. 2025
  • Watching this film will be huge, and then Coach getting on our (butts) will be big for us.
    — Colleen Kane, Chicago Tribune, 17 Mar. 2025
Definition of huge
Adjective
  • There are also the now-traditional summer preseason schedules of European clubs who spend a few weeks in America playing before enormous crowds before kicking off their new seasons back home.
    — Ian Nicholas Quillen, Forbes, 8 Mar. 2025
  • The decision to remove the enormous mural near the White House comes after a U.S. Rep. Andrew Clyde, R-Ga., introduced legislation earlier this week that gave D.C. an ultimatum: either paint over the slogan or risk losing federal funding.
    — Juliana Kim, NPR, 8 Mar. 2025
Definition of enormous
Adjective
  • She’s accompanied by Cosmo, a robot with a giant cartoon head and the soulful eyes of someone—or something—that might be more than just a machine.
    — Tony Bradley, Forbes, 14 Mar. 2025
  • The surviving robots, meanwhile, got sent to a giant prison colony somewhere in the deserts of the American Southwest.
    — Bilge Ebiri, Vulture, 14 Mar. 2025
Definition of giant
Adjective
  • What to Do Sure, wine tasting and farm-to-table dining is why many travelers come to the Willamette Valley to begin with, but its vast beauty shouldn't be wasted.
    — Nicole Kliest, Vogue, 7 Mar. 2025
  • The vast majority of undercover U.S. intelligence officers work out of embassies and consulates, posing as diplomats, and the closure of diplomatic posts would reduce the CIA's options for where to position its spies.
    — arkansasonline.com, arkansasonline.com, 7 Mar. 2025
Definition of vast
Adjective
  • The Canucks had reeled off a couple of massive wins to leapfrog the Calgary Flames and reclaim the final wild-card spot.
    — Harman Dayal, The Athletic, 17 Mar. 2025
  • The environmental policy pivot by the Trump administration also has massive implications for the country’s ability to compete in the fast-growing global market for clean energy.
    — Alan Ohnsman, Forbes, 17 Mar. 2025
Definition of massive
Adjective
  • The sacrifice of allowing the home team to have a tremendous advantage in the NCAA Tournament is worth it in favor of a crowd that may actually be decent.
    — Mac Engel, Fort Worth Star-Telegram, 14 Mar. 2025
  • Black Bag is a tremendous example that a film need not be making an explicit political point or obsessed with the political dimensions of its narrative to be worthwhile cinema.
    — Angelica Jade Bastién, Vulture, 14 Mar. 2025
Definition of tremendous
Adjective
  • Well-known for her use of out-of-the-ordinary materials over the years, like scarab wings and ancient mammoth ivory, van der Velden rose to the challenge of reinventing that most classic of stone in her own, original way.
    — Kate Matthams, Forbes, 8 Mar. 2025
  • The Associated Press Nearly two months after an explosion sent flaming debris raining down on the Turks and Caicos, SpaceX launched another mammoth Starship rocket on Thursday, but lost contact minutes into the test flight as the spacecraft came tumbling down and broke apart.
    — arkansasonline.com, arkansasonline.com, 6 Mar. 2025
Definition of mammoth

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Cite this Entry

“Colossal.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/colossal. Accessed 21 Mar. 2025.

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