- huge
- huge, vast, immense, enormous, elephantine, mammoth, giant, gigantic, gigantean, colossal, gargantuan, Herculean, cyclopean, titanic, Brobdingnagian are comparable when meaning exceedingly or excessively large.Huge is a rather general term indicating extreme largeness, usually in size, bulk, or capacity{
an enormous volume of heavy, inky vapor, coiling and pouring upward in a huge and ebony cumulus cloud— H. G. Wells
}{the Texan question and Mexican War made huge annexations of Southwestern territory certain— Nevins & Commager
}Vast denotes extreme largeness or broadness, especially of extent or range{the Great Valley of California, a vast elliptical bowl averaging 50 miles in width and more than 400 miles long— Amer. Guide Series: Calif.
}{consider the vast varieties of religions ancient and modern— Cohen
}Immense suggests size far in excess of ordinary measurements or accustomed concepts{an immense quill, plucked from a distended albatross' wing— Melville
}{found the balloon at an immense height indeed, and the earth's convexity had now become strikingly manifest— Poe
}{the immense waste of war— Brogan
}Enormous also indicates a size or degree exceeding accustomed bounds or norms{heavy wagons, enormous loads, scarcely any less than three tons— Amer. Guide Series: Calif.
}{the princes of the Renascence lavished upon private luxury and display enormous amounts of money— Mumford
}Elephantine suggests the cumbersome or ponderous largeness of the elephant{similar elephantine bones were being displayed ... as relics of the "giants" mentioned in the Bible— R. W. Murray
}{elephantine grain elevators— Amer. Guide Series: N. Y.
}Mammoth is similar to elephantine{her parties were . . . mammoth—she rarely invited fewer than 100 people— Time
}{a mammoth cyclotron— Whicher
}Giant indicates unusual size or scope{loaded with a typical unit of giant industrial equipment, the new car weighs more than a million pounds—Pa. Railroad Annual Report (1952)
}{his giant intellect
}Gigantic and the uncommon gigantean are close synonyms of giant perhaps more likely to be used in metaphorical extensions{gigantic jewels that a hundred Negroes could not carry— Chesterton
}{a justice of the Supreme Court . . . however gigantic his learning and his juridic rectitude— Mencken
}Colossal may suggest vast proportion{three sets of colossal figures of men and animals . . . the largest man is 167 feet long— Amer. Guide Series: Calif
}{the sun blazed down ... the heat was colossal— Forester
}Gargantuan suggests the hugeness of Rabelais's Gargantua and is often used in reference to appetites and similar physical matters{gargantuan breakfasts . . . pigs' knuckles and sauerkraut, liver and bacon, ham and eggs, beef stew— Ferber
}Herculean suggests the superhuman power of the Greek hero Hercules or the superhuman difficulties of his famous labors{a Herculean task confronted them. Some 1700 miles of track had to be laid through a wilderness— Nevins & Commager
}Cyclopean suggests the superhuman size and strength of the Cyclops of Greek mythology{of cyclopean masonry, consisting of very large blocks of stone— Scientific American
}Titanic suggests colossal size and, often, primitive earth-shaking strength{titanic water fronds speedily choked both those rivers— H. G. Wells
}{it was his titanic energy that broke the fetters of medievalism— Cohen
}Brobdingnagian suggests the hugeness of the inhabitants of the Brobdingnag of Gulliver's Travels{a brand-new Brobdingnagian hotel— Disraeli
}
New Dictionary of Synonyms. 2014.
