different between elephantine vs massive

English

Pronunciation

• (US) IPA^(key): /?l.?.?fæn.tin/, /?l.?.?fæn.t?n/, /?l.?.?fæn.ta?n/

Adjective

elephantine (comparative more elephantine, superlative most elephantine)

1. Of, pertaining to, or characteristic of elephants.
   • 1989, H. T. Willetts (translator), Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn (author), August 1914, Farrar, Straus and Giroux, ?ISBN, page 179:

     This last summer Hanecki had captured Lenin’s imagination with his plans to found a trading company of his own in Europe, or take a partnership in some existing firm and make guaranteed monthly remittances to the Party out of his profits. This was not a Russian pipe dream: every move had been worked out with impressive precision. Kuba hadn’t thought of it himself, it was the brainchild of the elephantine genius Parvus, who had been writing to him from Constantinople. Parvus, once as poor as any other Social Democrat, had gone to Turkey to organize strikes, and now wrote frankly that he had all the money he needed (if rumor was right, he was fabulously wealthy) and that the time had come for the Party too to get rich.

2. Very large.

Synonyms

• (of or relating to elephants): elephantic, elephantlike
• (very large): See also Thesaurus:gigantic

Derived terms

• elephantine epoch
• elephantine leprosy
• elephantine tortoise

Translations

Latin

Adjective

elephantine

1. vocative masculine singular of elephantinus

English

Etymology

From Middle English massif, from Middle French massif. The Irish sense is possibly derived from Irish mas (“fine, handsome”).

Pronunciation

• (UK) IPA^(key): /?mæs.?v/
• Rhymes: -æs?v

Adjective

massive (comparative more massive, superlative most massive)

1. Very large in size or extent
2. Very large or bulky and heavy and solid
3. (informal) To a very great extent; total, utter.
   • 2007, Christine Conrad, Mademoiselle Benoir (page 171)

     Notwithstanding Catherine's assurances, I was apprehensive about meeting Denys, worried that I would come off as a massive idiot […]

4. (colloquial) Of particularly exceptional quality or value; awesome.
5. (colloquial, informal, Ireland) outstanding, beautiful

   Your dress is massive, love. Where did you get it?

6. (medicine) Affecting a large portion of the body, or severe.

7. (physics) Having a large mass
8. (physics, of a particle) Possessing mass.

9. (geology) Homogenous, unstructured
   1. (mineralogy) Not having an obvious crystalline structure.

Synonyms

• (of or pertaining to a large mass): bulky, heavy, hefty, substantial, weighty
• (much larger than normal): colossal, enormous, gargantuan, giant, gigantic, great, huge, mahoosive (slang), titanic
• (of great significance or import): consequential, meaningful, overwhelming, significant, weighty
• (of grandeur): awesome, super, excellent, stupendous

Antonyms

• (of or pertaining to a large mass): insubstantial, light
• (much larger than normal): dwarf, little, microscopic, midget, minuscule, pint-sized, tiny, wee
• (of great significance or import): inconsequential, insignificant, piddling, trifling, trivial, unimportant
• (of grandeur): lame, stale, disappointing, crappy
• (of having nonzero mass): massless

Derived terms

Translations

Noun

massive (plural massives)

1. (mineralogy) A homogeneous mass of rock, not layered and without an obvious crystal structure.

   karst massives in western Georgia

2. (MLE, slang) A group of people from a locality, or sharing a collective aim, interest, etc.

   Big up to the Croydon massive!

Anagrams

• mavises

French

Adjective

massive

1. feminine singular of massif

German

Pronunciation

Adjective

massive

1. inflection of massiv:
   1. strong/mixed nominative/accusative feminine singular
   2. strong nominative/accusative plural
   3. weak nominative all-gender singular
   4. weak accusative feminine/neuter singular

Italian

Adjective

massive

1. feminine plural of massivo

Norwegian Bokmål

Adjective

massive

1. definite singular of massiv
2. plural of massiv

Norwegian Nynorsk

Adjective

massive

1. definite singular of massiv
2. plural of massiv