Brobdingnagian

Pronunciation

• UK IPA: /bɹɒbdɪŋˈnaɡɪən/

Origin

From Brobdingnag + -ian.

Full definition of Brobdingnagian

Adjective

1. Of or pertaining to Brobdingnag.
2. (figuratively) Enormous, huge, far larger than is customary for such a thing.
• 1899, Israel Zangwill, "They that Walk in Darkness": Ghetto Tragedies (page 289)When, at the head-centre, the lady demonstrator, armed with a Brobdingnagian whalebone needle, threaded with a bright red cord, executed herringboned fantasias on a canvas frame resembling a violin stand, it all looked easy enough.
• 1907, Booth_Tarkington, "Glamour" in His Own People,The two men followed Madame de Vaurigard into a square hall, hung with tapestries and lit by two candles of a Brobdingnagian species Mellin had heretofore seen only in cathedrals.
• 2010, Christopher Hitchens, Hitch-22, Atlantic 2011, p. 52:Again I stress the matter of sheer scale: the teachers were enormous compared to us and this lent a Brobdingnagian aspect to the scene.

Synonyms

Antonyms

• lilliputian

Noun

1. A creature from Brobdingnag.
2. (figuratively) A giant.