immense
English
Etymology
From Middle French immense, from Latin immensus, from in- (“not”) + mensus (“measured”). Compare incommensurable.
Pronunciation
- IPA(key): /ɪˈmɛns/
Audio (US) (file) - Rhymes: -ɛns
Adjective
immense (comparative immenser, superlative immensest)
- Huge, gigantic, very large.
- 1918, W[illiam] B[abington] Maxwell, chapter V, in The Mirror and the Lamp, Indianapolis, Ind.: The Bobbs-Merrill Company, OCLC 4293071:
- Then everybody once more knelt, and soon the blessing was pronounced. The choir and the clergy trooped out slowly, […] , down the nave to the western door. […] At a seemingly immense distance the surpliced group stopped to say the last prayer.
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- (colloquial) Supremely good.
- (colloquial) Major; to a great degree.
- 1847 January – 1848 July, William Makepeace Thackeray, Vanity Fair […], London: Bradbury and Evans […], published 1848, OCLC 3174108:
- The gallant young Indian dandies at home on furlough—immense dandies these—chained and moustached—driving in tearing cabs […]
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Synonyms
- See also Thesaurus:large
Related terms
- immensely
- immensity
Translations
huge, gigantic, very large
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supremely good
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Noun
immense (plural immenses)
- (poetic) Immense extent or expanse; immensity.
- 1882, James Thomson (B. V.), “Despotism Tempered by Dynamite”:
- The half of Asia is my prison-house,
Myriads of convicts lost in its Immense—
I look with terror to my crowning day.
- The half of Asia is my prison-house,
- 1994, New Times International (issues 1-8, page 9)
- The events that took place in the immenses of the former USSR three years ago remind one about ancient rule of everyday life which is equally applicable both to daily routine and to politics: […]
- 1882, James Thomson (B. V.), “Despotism Tempered by Dynamite”:
Anagrams
- Eminems
Dutch
Pronunciation
Audio (file)
Adjective
immense
- Inflected form of immens
French
Etymology
Borrowed from Latin immēnsus.
Pronunciation
- IPA(key): /i(m).mɑ̃s/
audio (file)
Adjective
immense (plural immenses)
- immense, huge
Related terms
- immensément
- immensifier
- immensité
Further reading
- “immense”, in Trésor de la langue française informatisé [Digitized Treasury of the French Language], 2012.
Italian
Adjective
immense f pl
- feminine plural of immenso
Latin
Adjective
immēnse
- vocative masculine singular of immēnsus