different between lofty vs huge

English

Etymology

From Middle English lofty, lofti, lofte (“of high rank; noble; ornate”), equivalent to loft +? -y; see loft (“sky, firmament; upper room”).

Pronunciation

• (Received Pronunciation) enPR: l?ft?i, IPA^(key): /?l?fti/
• (General American) enPR: lôft?i, IPA^(key): /?l??fti/
• (cot–caught merger, Canada) enPR: l?ft?i, IPA^(key): /?l?fti/
• Rhymes: -?fti, -??fti

Adjective

lofty (comparative loftier, superlative loftiest)

1. high, tall, having great height or stature
   • 1885, Richard F. Burton, The Book of the Thousand Nights and a Night, Night 551:

     When the night was half spent, I rose and walked on, till the day broke in all its beauty and the sun rose over the heads of the lofty hills and athwart the low gravelly plains.

2. idealistic, implying over-optimism

   a lofty goal

   • 2013, Delme Parfitt in Wales Online, Cardiff City 1 - 0 Swansea City: Steven Caulker heads Bluebirds to South Wales derby win (3 November 2013)

     A goal from Steven Caulker, just after the hour mark, was enough to hand victory to Malky Mackay's men, with Swansea falling some way short of the lofty standards they have set previously at this level.

3. extremely proud; arrogant; haughty
   • F. Harrison

     that lofty pity with which prosperous folk are apt to remember their grandfathers

Synonyms

• (having great height or stature): noble, honorable

Antonyms

• (having great height or stature): mean, ignoble
• (idealistic): familiar, vulgar

Related terms

• loft
• aloft

Translations

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