Hypertext Webster Gateway: "formidable"
From Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary (1913) (web1913)
Formidable \For"mi*da*ble\, a. [L. formidabilis, fr. formidare
to fear, dread: cf. F. formidable.]
Exciting fear or apprehension; impressing dread; adapted to
excite fear and deter from approach, encounter, or
undertaking; alarming.
They seemed to fear the formodable sight. --Dryden.
I swell my preface into a volume, and make it
formidable, when you see so many pages behind. --Drydn.
Syn: Dreadful; fearful; terrible; frightful; shocking;
horrible; terrific; tremendous.
From WordNet (r) 1.7 (wn)
formidable
adj 1: extremely impressive in strength or excellence; "a
formidable opponent"; "the challenge was formidable";
"had a formidable array of compositions to his
credit"; "the formidable army of brains at the Prime
Minister's disposal"
2: inspiring fear; "the formidable prospect of major surgery";
"a tougher and more redoubtable adversary than the
heel-clicking, jackbooted fanatic"- G.H.Johnston;
"something unnerving and prisonlike about high gray wall"
[syn: {redoubtable}, {unnerving}]
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