So impressive in scale, quality, or achievement that it inspires amazement.
Reach for it when using exuberant praise for something genuinely extraordinary
Volunteers completed a stupendous restoration of the storm-damaged theater.
| playful |
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|---|---|
| everyday | |
| warm | |
| professional | |
| formal | |
| literary |
playful
Fits when exceptional success merits contemporary enthusiasm
Careful Phenomenal is frequently inflated in promotional language.
everyday
Fits when very great scale or excellence deserves emphatic praise
Careful Tremendous is more common and can describe harmful force.
warm
Fits when surprise at the result is central
Careful Astonishing can introduce terrible news as easily as praise.
professional
Fits when the result clearly lies outside ordinary experience
Careful Extraordinary states rarity without necessarily praising it.
formal
Fits when grandeur and beauty lead the admiration
Careful Magnificent is statelier and less playful.
literary
Fits when enormous scale or lasting importance is factual
Careful Monumental is too heavy for a delightful small performance.
stupendous achievement
The new flood barrier was a stupendous achievement of regional cooperation.
stupendous effort
A stupendous effort returned every displaced family home before winter.
absolutely stupendous
The children's hand-built planetarium looked absolutely stupendous.
Definitions and examples are written for this site. How words are chosen Recording: Vealhurl, Southern England accent, from Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 4.0 Updated
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