formidable
Americanadjective
-
causing fear, apprehension, or dread.
a formidable opponent.
- Antonyms:
- pleasant
-
of discouraging or awesome strength, size, difficulty, etc.; intimidating.
a formidable problem.
-
arousing feelings of awe or admiration because of grandeur, strength, etc.
-
of great strength; forceful; powerful.
formidable opposition to the proposal.
adjective
-
arousing or likely to inspire fear or dread
-
extremely difficult to defeat, overcome, manage, etc
a formidable problem
-
tending to inspire awe or admiration because of great size, strength, excellence, etc
Other Word Forms
- formidability noun
- formidableness noun
- formidably adverb
- nonformidability noun
- nonformidable adjective
- nonformidableness noun
- nonformidably adverb
- quasi-formidable adjective
- quasi-formidably adverb
- superformidable adjective
- superformidableness noun
- superformidably adverb
- unformidable adjective
- unformidableness noun
- unformidably adverb
Etymology
Origin of formidable
First recorded in 1400–50; late Middle English, from French, from Latin formīdābilis “causing fear,” from formīd(āre) “to fear” + -ābilis -able
Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
The Trailblazers and Knights have been the No. 1 teams in the Southland since the start of the season but face formidable competition for Southern Section titles.
From Los Angeles Times
A formidable scholar with a genial talent for storytelling, he amplifies his archival research with personal investigation of the places and surviving objects from his subject’s life.
Moscow’s inability to secure a swift victory against both Ukraine and then Prigozhin, despite multibillion-dollar upgrades to its military, suggested to Chinese leaders that ambitious modernization doesn’t automatically produce a formidable fighting force.
What makes the wealth of today’s retirees truly formidable is their numbers.
Its most formidable opponent in this space is QuEra Computing, which remains privately held.
From Barron's
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
