adjective
-
of or relating to mountains
a mountainous region
-
like a mountain, esp in size or impressiveness
Other Word Forms
- mountainously adverb
- mountainousness noun
- nonmountainous adjective
- nonmountainously adverb
- semimountainous adjective
- semimountainously adverb
- unmountainous adjective
Etymology
Origin of mountainous
First recorded in 1400–50, mountainous is from the late Middle English word mounteynous. See mountain, -ous
Vocabulary lists containing mountainous
South America - Middle School
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Eastern Europe - Introductory
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Mexico - Introductory
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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 former Royal Marine was found in the remote mountainous area of Kintail in the north-west Highlands on Saturday.
From BBC • Apr. 14, 2026
It is a mountainous road with sharp turns, and an image shared by the emergency services appears to show it crashing near a hairpin bend.
From BBC • Apr. 10, 2026
The airman, an unidentified colonel as we write this, climbed into mountainous terrain despite his injuries to escape detection and await a rescue once the U.S. located him.
From The Wall Street Journal • Apr. 5, 2026
The area's mountainous geography makes it doubly vulnerable.
From Barron's • Apr. 3, 2026
Craning over the mountainous control panel, the pilot had a panoramic view of his plane’s snout and not much else.
From "Unbroken" by Laura Hillenbrand
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.
