English Explanatory Dictionary

prodigious

English dictionary entry

Meanings

adj
  1. Extraordinarily amazing.
  2. In a positive sense: marvellous, wonderful; (specifically) extremely talented, especially at a young age.
  3. In a negative sense: appalling, horrifying, shocking; (specifically, archaic) abnormal, freakish, monstrous, unnatural.
  4. Very big in extent, quantity, or size; abundant; intense; colossal, huge.
  5. Having the nature of an omen or portent; ominous, portentous.
adv
  1. Synonym of prodigiously (“in a prodigious manner”).

Pronunciation

/pɹəˈdɪd͡ʒəs/ /pɹoʊ-/ en-us-prodigious.ogg

Word forms

prodigious more prodigious most prodigious

Etymology

Etymology tree Proto-Indo-European *per-der.? Proto-Indo-European *per-der.? Proto-Indo-European *pér Proto-Indo-European *-o Proto-Indo-European *pró Proto-Indo-European *pro- Proto-Italic *pro- Latin prō- Proto-Indo-European *h₁eǵ-der. Proto-Indo-European *h₁ǵyéti Proto-Italic *agjō Latin aiō Proto-Indo-European *-yós Proto-Italic *-ios Old Latin -ios Latin -ius Latin -ium Latin prōdigium Proto-Indo-European *h₃ed-der. Latin -ōsus Latin prōdigiōsusbor. Middle English prodigious English prodigious The adjective is derived from Late Middle English prodigious (“warning of disaster, portentous”), from Latin prōdigiōsus (“strange, unnatural; marvellous, wonderful, prodigious”), from prōdigium (“prophetic sign, omen, portent; prodigy, wonder”) + -ōsus (suffix meaning ‘full of’ forming adjectives from nouns). Prōdigium is derived from prō- (prefix denoting a forward direction, something before or prior, or prominence) + aiō (“to say, speak”) (ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *h₁eǵ- (“to say”)) + -ium (suffix forming abstract nouns). The English word is analysable as prodigy + -ous. The adverb is derived from the adjective. Cognates * Catalan prodigiós * Middle French prodigieux (“portentous”) (modern French prodigieux) * Italian prodigioso * Portuguese prodigioso * Spanish prodigioso

Synonyms

precocious monstrous aberrant abnormal alien anomalous as queer as Dick's hatband bizarre booky curious deviant discrepant eerie eldritch errant exceptional extraordinary fey forby freak freakish freaky fremd funny heteroclite hinky incongruous incongruitous irregular kooky nonstandard odd outlandish out of the ordinary outré peculiar quaint queer queer as a clockwork orange queer as a nine bob note queer as a three dollar bill queer as a coot queer as Dick's hatband rare rum rummy selcouth seld singular strange trippy uncanny uncommon uncouth unconventional unearthly unexpected unreasonable unusual unwonted

Antonyms

average medial basic bog-standard common commonplace common-and-garden common-or-garden congruent consistent conventional customary everyday expected garden variety improminent mundane natural normal ordinary par for the course plain plain vanilla quotidian regular routine run-of-the-mill standard standard issue typical unexceptional unremarkable unstrange usual vulgar wakeaday workaday compact fun size fun-sized ickle insignificant lit'l little low modest mini petty pint-sized pocket-size slim slight small small-scale undersized wee wurly

Related words

prodigy

Derived words

prodigiously prodigiousness

Translations

Armenian: զարմանալի Bulgarian: изумителен Bulgarian: удивителен Catalan: prodigiós Dutch: verbazingwekkend Estonian: hämmastav Finnish: ällistyttävä Finnish: hämmästyttävä French: prodigieux German: verwunderlich Hungarian: bámulatos Hungarian: csodálatos Hungarian: páratlan Hungarian: tüneményes Icelandic: stórkostlegur Italian: prodigioso Latvian: apbrīnojams Macedonian: чу́десен Macedonian: неверо́јатен Norwegian: fenomenal Occitan: prodigiós Portuguese: prodigioso Russian: изуми́тельный Russian: порази́тельный Russian: удиви́тельный Russian: умопомрачи́тельный Slovak: podivuhodný Spanish: prodigioso Swedish: häpnadsväckande Turkish: hayret verici Turkish: şaşırtıcı
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