-ious

1. variant of -ous, added to stems of Latin origin, often with corresponding nouns ending in -ity: atrocious; hilarious.

-ious

suffix forming adjectives

1. characterized by or full of Compare -eous

   suspicious

   ambitious

   religious

Word History and Origins

Origin of -ious¹

Middle English ≪ Latin -iōsus ( -i-, -ose ¹ ) and Latin -ius (masculine singular adj. ending, as in varius )

Word History and Origins

Origin of -ious¹

from Latin -ius and -iōsus full of

Example Sentences

A UC spokesman said “it could take several more months” for those IOUs to arrive.

From Los Angeles Times

"Christmas time it was just getting beyond a joke. I was going back to the pharmacy, probably two or three times in a month, just to collect the little IOUs and it was getting to the point where that, in itself, was becoming a stress," she said.

From BBC

That’s the pile of IOUs stored up over the last four decades as payroll tax revenue plumped outstripped annual costs.

From Washington Times

The stories read like tone poems, introducing readers to the small-time pistachio grower who lovingly named, and cried over, his dying trees; a grocery store owner who measured the devastation in a growing pile of IOUs; and Galvez and a fellow field hand raking nonexistent weeds, a pantomime to persuade their boss they had enough work to keep them employed.

From Los Angeles Times

State workers were issued IOUs instead of paychecks one summer.

From Los Angeles Times