Meaning & use
tremendous
Last updated
Meanings
adjectivebefore a noun
Extremely large or great in amount, size or force.
Grammar: Usually comes before a noun: a tremendous effort.
Patterns
- a tremendous amount of something
The storm caused tremendous damage along the coast.
He felt a tremendous sense of relief.
A tremendous crowd filled the stadium.
adjectivecomparableinformalapproving
Very good or impressive.
Grammar: Often used for praise: a tremendous performance.
She did a tremendous job on the project.
It was a tremendous party.
He is a tremendous help to the team.
Common combinations
- tremendous success
- The festival was a tremendous success.
- tremendous effort
- It took a tremendous effort to finish.
- tremendous pressure
- They were under tremendous pressure.
- tremendous amount
- A tremendous amount of work remains.
- tremendous support
- We received tremendous support from fans.
Synonyms and how they differ
- enormous
- Enormous is mainly about size, while tremendous can also express admiration.
- huge
- Huge is more everyday and mostly about size, while tremendous is a little more emphatic.
- fantastic
- Fantastic is purely approval, whereas tremendous can describe size or force as well.
- immense
- Immense is a little more formal and measurable, mainly for size or scale.
Opposites
Word family
- tremendously adverb
- to a very great degree
- tremendousness noun
- rare noun for the quality of being tremendous
Commonly confused: tremendous or tremulous?
tremendous vs tremulous
Tremulous means shaking or nervous, while tremendous means huge or excellent.
Practice
The rescue team showed ___ courage during the flood.
Choose one answer.
Tremendous means very great, which fits courage. Tremulous means shaky, and tedious and tentative do not suit courage.
Make it your own
Write a sentence using “tremendous”, then check it and compare it with the examples above.