different between prodigious vs grisly

English

Etymology

From Middle French prodigieux, from Latin pr?digi?sus (“unnatural, strange, wonderful, marvelous”), from pr?digium (“an omen, portent, monster”).

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /p???d?d???s/
• Rhymes: -?d??s

Adjective

prodigious (comparative more prodigious, superlative most prodigious)

1. Very big in size or quantity; gigantic; colossal; huge.
2. Extraordinarily exciting or amazing.
3. (obsolete) Ominous, portentous.
4. Monstrous; freakish.

Synonyms

• gigantic, colossal, huge, enormous; See also Thesaurus:gigantic
• amazing
• ominous, portentous

Derived terms

• prodigiously

Related terms

Translations

Further reading

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

English

Pronunciation

• (Received Pronunciation, General American) IPA^(key): /????zli/
• Homophone: grizzly
• Hyphenation: gris?ly

Etymology 1

From Middle English grisely, grysly, grissli?, griselich, grislich, from Old English grisli? (“grisly, horrible; dreadful, horrid”), from gr?san (“to shudder with horror; to tremble, to be terrified; to make tremble, to terrify; to agrise, grise”) (unattested but implied in ?gr?san) + -lic (suffix forming adjectives meaning ‘characteristic of, pertaining to’).

The word may also be an aphetic form of Old English ongrislic, agrisenli?, the past participle of agr?san (“to agrise”).

Compare Danish grusom, Swedish gräslig, Middle Dutch grezelijc (modern Dutch griezelig), Middle High German grisenlich (modern German grässlich, grausen).

Adjective

grisly (comparative grislier, superlative grisliest)

1. Horrifyingly repellent; gruesome, terrifying.

   Synonyms: (obsolete) grisy, gristly, (misspellings) grizzly; see also Thesaurus:frightening
2. Misspelling of gristly.
3. Misspelling of grizzly.

Usage notes

Not to be confused with gristly or grizzly.

Alternative forms

• griesly, grislie (obsolete)

Derived terms

• grislily
• grisliness
• ungrisly

Related terms

• grise

Translations

Etymology 2

From grisle (“horror, terror”) +? -ly; compare Middle Dutch griselike, Middle Low German grislike.

Adverb

grisly (comparative more grisly, superlative most grisly)

1. (obsolete) In a horrible or terrible manner; in a terrifying way.

Synonyms

• grimly
• horribly
• terribly

References