English Explanatory Dictionary

monster

English dictionary entry

Meanings

noun
  1. A terrifying and dangerous creature, especially one of an imaginary or mythical kind.
  2. A cruel, heartless, or antisocial person, especially a criminal.
  3. A badly behaved person, especially a child; a brat.
  4. A prodigy; someone very talented in a specific domain.
  5. A creature of unnatural or highly unusual shape or form (which makes a frightening or unpleasant impression).
  6. Something very or unusually large.
  7. A deformed animal or person (especially, a severely deformed one); in previous centuries often taken as an ill omen at the time of its birth. (Offensive when applied to humans in modern usage.)
  8. A disabled person.
  9. A bizarre or whimsical creature.
  10. A non-player character that player(s) fight against in role-playing games; a mob
adj
  1. Very large; worthy of a monster.
  2. Great; very good; excellent.
verb
  1. To make into a monster; to categorise as a monster; to demonise.
  2. To behave as a monster to; to terrorise.
  3. To harass.
  4. To play (a series of) non-player characters as directed, without having the responsibility of organising the game itself; generally not limited to playing literal monsters or hostile combatants.
name
  1. A surname.

Pronunciation

/ˈmɒnstə(ɹ)/ mŏn'stə /ˈmɑnstɚ/ en-au-monster.ogg

Word forms

monster monsters monstre monstering monstered

Etymology

Etymology tree Proto-Indo-European *men- Proto-Indo-European *-yeti Proto-Indo-European *-éyeti Proto-Indo-European *monéyeti Proto-Italic *moneō Proto-Indo-European *-trom Proto-Italic *-trom Proto-Italic *monestrom Latin mōnstrumbor. Old French monstrebor. Middle English monstre English monster From Middle English monstre, from Old French monstre, mostre, moustre, from Latin mōnstrum. Displaced native Old English fīfel and Old English þyrs.

Synonyms

beast monstrosity monstrous gigantic monsterize

Related words

monstrous monstrously monstrose

Derived words

abominable snow monster baby monster group bemonster blondster bug-eyed monster chest monster Claremonster cockmonster Cookie Monster corporate monster Fischer–Griess Monster flying spaghetti monster Frankenstein's monster Gila monster green-eyed monster headless chicken monster hopeful monster little monster Loch Ness Monster mass monster mermonster monster boy monster closet monster-cock monster cock monstercock monsterdom monster erotica monsterfest monsterful monster girl monster group monster hand monsterhood monster-in-law monsterise monsterism monsterization monsterize monsterkind monsterless monsterlet monsterlike monsterling monsterly Monster Mansion monster mash monster meeting monster movie monster of the week monsterology monster porn monstership monster truck monster tumbleweed monster under the bed monstery monstress monstricide monstriferous

Translations

Afrikaans: monster Albanian: përbindësh Arabic: وَحْش Arabic: مسيخ Arabic: وحش Armenian: հրեշ Asturian: monstruu Azerbaijani: nəhəng Azerbaijani: div Azerbaijani: əjdaha Azerbaijani: canavar Bangi: elima Basque: munstro Belarusian: пачва́ра Belarusian: страшы́дла Belarusian: страхо́цце Belarusian: страхо́цьце Belarusian: мо́нстар Bengali: দানব Bengali: দৈত্য Bulgarian: чудо́вище Bulgarian: изверг Burmese: ဧရာမသတ္တဝါကြီး Burmese: နတ်ဆိုး Catalan: monstre Chinese Mandarin: 妖怪 Chinese Mandarin: 怪物 Chinese Mandarin: 魔鬼 Chinese Mandarin: 妖物 Czech: nestvůra Czech: příšera Czech: potvora Danish: uhyre Danish: monster Dutch: monster Esperanto: monstro Estonian: koletis Estonian: peletis Estonian: monstrum Finnish: hirviö French: monstre Galician: monstro Georgian: მონსტრი Georgian: ურჩხული German: Monster German: Ungeheuer Greek: τέρας Ancient Greek: πέλωρον Ancient Greek: πέλωρ Ancient Greek: τέρας Haitian Creole: mons Hawaiian: tutua Hebrew: מִפְלֶצֶת Hindi: राक्षस Hindi: देव Hindi: दैत्य Hindi: दानव White Hmong: dab Hungarian: szörny Icelandic: ófreskja Icelandic: skrímsli Ido: monstro Indonesian: monster Irish: arracht Irish: ainmhí Irish: amhailt Italian: mostro Japanese: 怪物 Japanese: モンスター Japanese: 化け物 Japanese: 怪異 Kazakh: құбыжық Kazakh: жалмауыз Khmer: វិរូបកាយ Khmer: វៃយរាពណ៍ Khmer: យក្ខ Khmer: បារ
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