different between huge vs hideous

English

Etymology

From Middle English huge, from Old French ahuge (“high, lofty, great, large, huge”), from a hoge (“at height”), from a (“at, to”) + hoge (“a hill, height”), from Frankish *haug, *houg (“height, hill”) or Old Norse haugr (“hill”); both from Proto-Germanic *haugaz (“hill, mound”), from Proto-Indo-European *kowkós (“hill, mound”), from the root Proto-Indo-European *kewk-. Akin to Old High German houg (“mound”) (compare related German Hügel (“hill”)), Old Norse haugr (“mound”), Lithuanian ka?karas (“hill”), Old High German h?h (“high”) (whence German hoch), Old English h?ah (“high”). More at high.

Pronunciation

• (UK, US) IPA^(key): /hju?d??/, [çu??d??]
• (US)
• (NYC, some other US dialects) IPA^(key): /ju?d?/
• (Norfolk) IPA^(key): [h?ud?]

Adjective

huge (comparative huger, superlative hugest)

1. Very large.

   • “I don't mean all of your friends—only a small proportion—which, however, connects your circle with that deadly, idle, brainless bunch—the insolent chatterers at the opera, […] the chlorotic squatters on huge yachts, […] the neurotic victims of mental cirrhosis, the jewelled animals whose moral code is the code of the barnyard—!”
2. (slang) Distinctly interesting, significant, important, likeable, well regarded.

Synonyms

• (very large): colossal, elephantine, enormous, giant, gigantic, immense, prodigious, vast.
• See also Thesaurus:gigantic

Antonyms

• (very large): tiny, small, minuscule, midget, dwarf

Derived terms

Translations

Further reading

• huge in Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary, G. & C. Merriam, 1913.
• huge in The Century Dictionary, New York, N.Y.: The Century Co., 1911.

Anagrams

• e-hug, eugh, gehu

Middle English

Alternative forms

• hoige, houge, hugge, hoge, hogge, hoege, heug, heuge, hogh

Etymology

From Old French ahuge, a form of ahoge.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /?hiu?d?(?)/

Adjective

huge

1. huge, large, enormous
2. great, severe, excessive, prominent
3. numerous, plentiful

Descendants

• English: huge
• Scots: huge, hudge

References

• “h??e, adj.”, in MED Online, Ann Arbor, Mich.: University of Michigan, 2007, retrieved 2018-04-03.

Adverb

huge

1. hugely, greatly

References

• “h??e, adj.”, in MED Online, Ann Arbor, Mich.: University of Michigan, 2007, retrieved 2018-04-03.

Middle French

Noun

huge f (plural huges)

1. market stall

English

Etymology

From Middle English hidous, from Anglo-Norman hidous, from Old French hideus, hydus (“that which inspires terror”), from earlier hisdos, from Old French hisda (“horror, fear”), of uncertain and disputed origin. Probably from Proto-West Germanic *agisiþu (“horror, terror”), from Proto-West Germanic *agis?n (“to frighten, terrorise”), from Proto-Germanic *agaz (“terror, fear”), from Proto-Indo-European *h?eg?- (“to frighten”). Cognate with Old High German egisa, egid? (“horror”), Old English egesa (“fear, dread”), Gothic ???????????????? (agis, “fear, terror”).

Alternative etymology cites possible derivation from Latin hispidosus (“rugged”), from hispidus (“rough, bristly”), yet the semantic evolution is less plausible.

Pronunciation

• (UK) IPA^(key): /?h?d.i?.?s/
• (US) IPA^(key): /?h?d.i.?s/

Adjective

hideous (comparative more hideous, superlative most hideous)

1. Extremely or shockingly ugly.
   • Thomas Babington Macaulay.

   A piteous and hideous spectacle.

2. Having a very unpleasant or frightening sound
   • 1719, Daniel Defoe, Robinson Crusoe

     He started up, growling at first, but finding his leg broken, fell down again; and then got upon three legs, and gave the most hideous roar that ever I heard.

3. Hateful; shocking.
4. Morally offensive; shocking; detestable.

Usage notes

• Nouns to which "hideous" is often applied: monster, creature, man, woman, face, thing, crime, form, death, aspect, spectacle, picture, roar, sound, manner, way, disease, mistake, shape, dress, fact, act, smile.

Synonyms

• frightful, ghastly, grim, grisly, grotesque, horrid, dreadful, terrible

Derived terms

• hideosity
• hideously
• hideousness

Translations

Middle English

Adjective

hideous

1. Alternative form of hidous (“terrifying”)