Word Direct Answers

What does "monstrous" mean?

Monstrous: Having the qualities of a monster; deviating greatly from the natural form or character; abnormal; as, a monstrous birth. Locke. He, therefore, that refuses to do good to them whom he is bound to love ... is unnatural and monstrous in his affections. Jer. Taylor.

Additional senses

  1. 2.Extraordinary in a way to excite wonder, dislike, apprehension, etc.; -- said of size, appearance, color, sound, etc.; as, a monstrous height; a monstrous ox; a monstrous story.
  2. 3.Extraordinary on account of ugliness, viciousness, or wickedness; hateful; horrible; dreadful. So bad a death argues a monstrous life. Shak.
  3. 4.Abounding in monsters. [R.] Where thou, perhaps, under the whelming tide Visitest the bottom of the monstrous world. Milton.
  4. 5.Exceedingly; very; very much. "A monstrous thick oil on the top." Bacon. And will be monstrous witty on the poor. Dryden.

Sources