different between miracle vs monster

English

Etymology

Borrowed from Old French miracle, from Latin m?r?culum (“object of wonder”), from m?ror (“to wonder at”), from m?rus (“wonderful”), from Proto-Indo-European *(s)meyh?- (“to smile, to be astonished”). Doublet of milagro. Partially displaced native wonder, from Old English wundor (“miracle, wonder”).

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /?m???k?l/
• (US, Canada, usually) IPA^(key): /?mi??k?l/

Noun

miracle (plural miracles)

1. An event that appears inexplicable by the laws of nature and so is held to be supernatural in origin.

   Many religious beliefs are based on miracles.

   An example of a miracle associated with Muhammad is the splitting of the moon.
2. A fortunate outcome that prevails despite overwhelming odds against it.
   • 1966 November 25, "A Great Document Made by Wisdom and Luck", in Life, volume 61, number 22, page 13:

     Secondly, it was a miracle that a document hammered out with such difficulty, satisfying very few of its authors completely and satisfying some of them very little, would turn out to be the most successful political invention in history.

   • 1993, Hatch N. Gardner and Frank H. Winter, P-51 Mustang (Turner Publishing Company), page 78:

     It was a miracle that I survived that ditching in the high waves because I had my seat belt and shoulder harness unbuckled in anticipation of bailing out.

   • 2003, Eric Lionel Jones, The European miracle: environments, economies, and geopolitics in the history of Europe and Asia (Cambridge University Press), page 218:

     Seen in this light it was a miracle of economic history that Europe was able to undertake so much higher a proportion of its expansion overseas, and secure a massive injection of resources and big markets without a commensurate growth in her numbers.

3. An awesome and exceptional example of something
   • 1847, Honoré de Balzac, Scenes from a Courtesan's Life, page 323:

     The home of our kings, over which you tread as you pace the immense hall known as the Salle des Pas-Perdus, was a miracle of architecture.

   • 2008, Joseph R. Conlin, The American Past: A Survey of American History (Cengage Learning), page 670:

     It was a miracle of engineering that made possible, with the cheap electricity the dam generated, another kind of miracle: the bizarre, superilluminated city of Las Vegas, Nevada.

Derived terms

Translations

Verb

miracle (third-person singular simple present miracles, present participle miracling, simple past and past participle miracled)

1. (transitive) To affect by a miracle; to work a miracle upon.
   • 1925, The Medical Critic and Guide (volume 25, page 103)

     When a patient declares that he has been "miracled," the other pilgrims are apt to rush to him (or her) and ask details; this is not permitted; the miracled invalid is borne or carted away to the Bureau of Medical Certification […]

   • 1998, Gary Genosko, Undisciplined Theory (page 117)

     Deleuze and Guattari are right in miracling fleas into the bestiary, but it is already rich enough to do without them.

   • 2001, Susann Cokal, Mirabilis (page 33)

     They think I've miracled the dogs, as the Eucharist miracled my mother. That I, Bonne, am pulsing with holy spirit.

Anagrams

• Maricle, Ramciel, car mile, claimer, reclaim

Catalan

Etymology

Borrowed from Latin m?r?culum. Doublet of mirall, which was inherited.

Pronunciation

• (Balearic, Central) IPA^(key): /mi??a.kl?/
• (Valencian) IPA^(key): /mi??a.kle/

Noun

miracle m (plural miracles)

1. miracle

Related terms

• miraculós

Further reading

• “miracle” in Diccionari de la llengua catalana, segona edició, Institut d’Estudis Catalans.

French

Etymology

From Old French miracle, borrowed from Latin m?r?culum. Compare the inherited Old French mirail (“mirror”).

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /mi.?akl/

Noun

miracle m (plural miracles)

1. miracle

Derived terms

• cour des miracles

Related terms

• miraculeux
• miraculeusement

Further reading

• “miracle” in Trésor de la langue française informatisé (The Digitized Treasury of the French Language).

Old French

Etymology

Borrowed from Latin m?r?culum (“object of wonder”) (compare inherited mirail (“mirror”)), from m?ror (“to wonder at”), from m?rus (“wonderful”), from Proto-Indo-European *(s)meyh?- (“to smile, to be astonished”).

Noun

miracle m (oblique plural miracles, nominative singular miracles, nominative plural miracle)

1. miracle

Descendants

• ? English: miracle
• French: miracle
• Norman: mithacl'ye

English

Alternative forms

• monstre (obsolete)

Etymology

From Middle English monstre, borrowed from Old French monstre, mostre, moustre, from Latin m?nstrum.

Pronunciation

• (Received Pronunciation) IPA^(key): /?m?nst?(?)/
• (US) enPR: m?n'st?(r), IPA^(key): /?m?nst?/
• Rhymes: -?nst?(?)

Noun

monster (plural monsters)

1. A terrifying and dangerous creature.
2. A bizarre or whimsical creature.

3. A cruel, heartless, or antisocial person, especially a criminal.

   Get away from those children, you meatheaded monster!
4. (medicine, archaic) A horribly deformed person.
   • 1837, Medico-Chirurgical Review (page 465)

     Deducting then these cases, we have a large proportion of imperfect foetuses, which belonged to twin conceptions, and in which, therefore, the circulation of the monster may have essentially depended on that of the sound child.

5. (figuratively) A badly behaved child, a brat.

6. (informal) Something unusually large.
7. (informal) A prodigy; someone very talented in a specific domain.

8. (gaming) A non-player character that player(s) fight against in role-playing games.

Derived terms

Related terms

• monstrous
• monstrously
• monstrose

Translations

Descendants

• ? German: Monster
• ? Japanese: ?????
• ? Korean: ??? (monseuteo)

Adjective

monster (not comparable)

1. (informal) Very large; worthy of a monster.

   (Can we find and add a quotation of Alexander Pope to this entry?)
2. (informal) Great; very good; excellent.

Synonyms

• (very large): gigantic, monstrous

Translations

Verb

monster (third-person singular simple present monsters, present participle monstering, simple past and past participle monstered)

1. To make into a monster; to categorise as a monster; to demonise.
   • 1983, Michael Slater, Dickens and Women, page 290,

     A Tale of Two Cities and Great Expectations feature four cases of women monstered by passion. Madame Defarge is ‘a tigress’, Mrs Joe a virago, Molly (Estella?s criminal mother) ‘a wild beast tamed’ and Miss Havisham a witch-like creature, a ghastly combination of waxwork and skeleton.

   • 2005, Diana Medlicott, The Unbearable Brutality of Being: Casual Cruelty in Prison and What This Tells Us About Who We Really Are, Margaret Sönser Breen (editor), Minding Evil: Explorations of Human Iniquity, page 82,

     The community forgives: this is in deep contrast to offenders that emerge from prison and remain stigmatised and monstered, often unable to get work or housing.

   • 2011, Stephen T. Asma, On Monsters: An Unnatural History of Our Worst Fears, page 234,

     Demonizing or monstering other groups has even become part of the cycle of American politics.

2. To behave as a monster to; to terrorise.
   • 1968, Robert Lowell, Robert Lowell: A Collection of Critical Essays, page 145,

     Animals in our world have been monstered by human action as much as the free beasts of the pre-lapsarian state were monstered by the primal crime.

   • 2009, Darius Rejali, Torture and Democracy, page 292,

     In 2002, American interrogators on the ground in Afghanistan developed a technique they called “monstering.” The commander “instituted a new rule that a prisoner could be kept awake and in the booth for as long as an interrogator could last.” One “monstering” interrogator engaged in this for thirty hours.¹⁷⁷

   • 2010, Joshua E. S. Phillips, None of Us Were Like This Before: American Soldiers and Torture, page 39,

     The interrogators asked members of the 377th Military Police Company to help them with monstering, and the MPs complied.

3. (chiefly Australia) To harass.

Anagrams

• Monters, mentors, meronts, metrons, monstre, montres, termons

Dutch

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /?m?nst?r/
• Hyphenation: mon?ster

Etymology 1

From Middle Dutch monster, probably from Old French monstre, from Latin m?nstrum. Cognate with English monster.

Noun

monster n (plural monsters, diminutive monstertje n)

1. A monster, terrifying and dangerous creature.
2. An extremely antisocial person, especially a criminal.

Derived terms

Etymology 2

Cognate with English muster.

Noun

monster n (plural monsters, diminutive monstertje n)

1. sample; small, representative quantity of a substance or material, as used for analysis or selection.

Derived terms

Verb

monster

1. first-person singular present indicative of monsteren
2. imperative of monsteren

Anagrams

• morsten, stormen, stromen

Swedish

Etymology

From Latin monstrum.

Pronunciation

Noun

monster n

1. A monster, terrifying and dangerous creature.

Declension

Synonyms

• odjur
• vidunder
• best

Anagrams

• mentors, mostern, stormen