Brobdingnagian (adj)
brob-din-ag-ee-an
of huge size; gigantic; tremendous.
Brobdingnagian was first recorded in 1725–30 and comes from the name Brobdingnag, a fictional place from Jonathan Swift’s Gulliver’s Travels. In Brobdingnag, everything was of enormous size and its opposite in the book was Lilliput, where everything was tiny. Something Lilliputian is extremely small.
Example sentences
“We hiked through the forest, and came across a Brobdingnagian beech that towered above all others”
Exon (noun) ek-son (in Britain) one of four yeomen of the guard who act as commanding officers in the absence of higher authority. 1645–55; earlier exant, for French exempt (spelling…
Calumniate (verb) kal-um-nee-ayt to make false and malicious statements about; slander. 1545–55; Latin calumniātus (past participle of calumniārī to accuse falsely, trick), equivalent to calumni(a) calumny + -ātus-ate1 (more…)
Enervate (verb) en-er-vayt to deprive of force or strength; destroy the vigor of; weaken. Enervate was first recorded in 1595–1605. Enervate is from the Latin word ēnervātus, meaning “weakened.” (more…)
Raillery (noun) ray-luh-ree good-humored ridicule; banter. 1645–55; French raillerie, equivalent to Middle French raill(er) (more…)
Persiflage (noun) pur-si-flahj light, bantering talk or writing. First recorded in 1750–60; from French, derivative of persifler “to banter,” equivalent to per- prefix meaning “through, thoroughly, very” + siffler “to…
Smithereens (noun) smith-uh-reens Small pieces. Bits. Smithereens was first recorded in 1820–30 and may come from the dialectal variant smithers, “tiny pieces.” (more…)
Pulpy (adj) pul-pee pertaining to, characteristic of, or resembling pulp; fleshy or soft. First recorded in 1585–95; pulp + -y (more…)
Prognathous (adj) prog-na-thus having protrusive jaws First recorded in 1830–40; pro + -gnathous (more…)
Arachnic (noun) ar-ak-nid any wingless, carnivorous arthropod of the class Arachnida, including spiders, scorpions, mites, ticks, and daddy-longlegs, having a body divided into two parts, the cephalothorax and the abdomen,…