Formidable

//fɔːˈmɪdəbəl// adj

adj ·Moderate ·High school level

Definitions

Adjective
  1. 1
    Causing fear, dread, awe, or discouragement as a result of size, strength, or some other impressive feature; commanding respect; causing wonder or astonishment.

    "The latter part of the fifteenth century prepared a train of future events, that ended by raising France to a formidable power, which has ever since been, from time to time, the principal object of jealousy to the other European nations."

  2. 2
    Difficult to defeat or overcome.

    "a formidable opponent"

Adjective
  1. 1
    inspiring fear wordnet
  2. 2
    extremely impressive in strength or excellence wordnet

Synonyms

All synonyms
impressiveredoubtableabstrusealarmingappallingarduous

Example

More examples

"The wrestler has a formidable grip."

Etymology

From Middle English formidable, from Old French formidable, formible, from Latin formīdābilis (“formidable, terrible”), from formīdō (“fear, dread”).

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Data sourced from Wiktionary, WordNet, CMU, and other open linguistic databases. Updated March 2026.