formidable

• POS: Adjective
• HYPHEN: for=mi=da=ble
• COUNT in NET: 1 in 1 verses (in OT : 1 in 1 verses)

CIDE DICTIONARY

formidable, a. [L. formidabilis, fr. formidare to fear, dread: cf. F. formidable.].

 Exciting fear or apprehension; impressing dread; adapted to excite fear and deter from approach, encounter, or undertaking; alarming.  [1913 Webster]
"They seemed to fear the formodable sight."  [1913 Webster]
"I swell my preface into a volume, and make it formidable, when you see so many pages behind."

Syn. -- Dreadful; fearful; terrible; frightful; shocking; horrible; terrific; tremendous.

OXFORD DICTIONARY

formidable, disp. adj.
1 inspiring fear or dread.
2 inspiring respect or awe.
3 likely to be hard to overcome, resist, or deal with.

Derivative

formidableness n. formidably adv.

Etymology

F formidable or L formidabilis f. formidare fear

THESAURUS

formidable

Herculean, abstruse, alarming, appalling, arduous, astonishing, astounding, awe-inspiring, awesome, awful, brutal, burdensome, challenging, complex, conspicuous, critical, daunting, delicate, demanding, difficile, difficult, dire, direful, dread, dreaded, dreadful, earnest, effortful, egregious, exacting, exceptional, extraordinary, fabulous, fantastic, fatal, fateful, fell, freaky, frightening, frightful, ghastly, ghoulish, grave, grim, grisly, gruesome, hairy, hard, hard-earned, hard-fought, heavy, hideous, horrendous, horrible, horrid, horrific, horrifying, imposing, impressive, incredible, indomitable, intimidating, intricate, jawbreaking, knotted, knotty, labored, laborious, macabre, marked, marvelous, mean, menacing, mighty, mind-blowing, mind-boggling, morbid, no picnic, not easy, notable, noteworthy, noticeable, of mark, onerous, operose, outstanding, overwhelming, petrifying, portentous, powerful, prodigious, redoubtable, remarkable, rigorous, rough, rude, rugged, schrecklich, serious, set with thorns, severe, shocking, signal, sober, solemn, spiny, staggering, steep, strenuous, striking, superior, terrible, terrific, terrifying, thorny, ticklish, toilsome, tough, tremendous, tricky, unbelievable, uncommon, uphill, weighty, wicked, wonderful

ROGET THESAURUS

formidable

Difficulty

N difficulty, hardness, impracticability, tough work, hard work, uphill work, hard task, Herculean task, Augean task, task of Sisyphus, Sisyphean labor, tough job, teaser, rasper, dead lift, dilemma, embarrassment, deadlock, perplexity, intricacy, entanglement, complexity, cross fire, awkwardness, delicacy, ticklish card to play, knot, Gordian knot, dignus vindice nodus, net, meshes, maze, coil, crooked path, involvement, nice point, delicate point, subtle point, knotty point, vexed question, vexata quaestio, poser, puzzle, paradox, hard nut to crack, nut to crack, bone to pick, crux, pons asinorum, where the shoe pinches, nonplus, quandary, strait, pass, pinch, pretty pass, stress, brunt, critical situation, crisis, trial, rub, emergency, exigency, scramble, scrape, hobble, slough, quagmire, hot water, hornet's nest, sea of troubles, peck of troubles, pretty kettle of fish, pickle, stew, imbroglio, mess, ado, false position, set fast, stand, standstill, deadlock, dead set, fix, horns of a dilemma, cul de sac, hitch, stumbling block, crab, curmudgeon, difficult, not easy, hard, tough, troublesome, toilsome, irksome, operose, laborious, onerous, arduous, Herculean, formidable, sooner said than done, more easily said than done, easier said than done, difficult to deal with, hard to deal with, ill-conditioned, crabbed, crabby, not to be handled with kid gloves, not made with rose water, awkward, unwieldy, unmanageable, intractable, stubborn, perverse, refractory, plaguy, trying, thorny, rugged, knotted, knotty, invious, pathless, trackless, labyrinthine, intricate, complicated, impracticable, not feasible, desperate, embarrassing, perplexing, delicate, ticklish, critical, beset with difficulties, full of difficulties, surrounded by difficulties, entangled by difficulties, encompassed with difficulties, under a difficulty, in a box, in difficulty, in hot water, in the suds, in a cleft stick, in a fix, in the wrong box, in a scrape, in deep water, in a fine pickle, in extremis, between two stools, between Scylla and Charybdis, surrounded by shoals, surrounded by breakers, surrounded by quicksands, at cross purposes, not out of the wood, reduced to straits, hard pressed, sorely pressed, run hard, pinched, put to it, straitened, hard up, hard put to it, hard set, put to one's shifts, puzzled, at a loss, at the end of one's tether, at the end of one's rope, at one's wit's end, at a nonplus, at a standstill, graveled, nonplused, nonplussed, stranded, aground, stuck fast, set fast, up a tree, at bay, aux abois, driven into a corner, driven from pillar to post, driven to extremity, driven to one's wit's end, driven to the wall, au bout de son Latin, out of one's depth, thrown out, accomplished with difficulty, hard-fought, hard-earned, with difficulty, with much ado, barely, hardly, uphill, against the stream, against the grain, d rebours, invita Minerva, in the teeth of, at a pinch, upon a pinch, at long odds, against long odds, ay there's the rub, hic labor hoc opus, things are come to a pretty pass, ab inconvenienti, ad astra per aspera, acun chemin de fleurs ne conduit a la gloire.

Fear

N fear, timidity, diffidence, want of confidence, apprehensiveness, fearfulness, solicitude, anxiety, care, apprehension, misgiving, feeze, mistrust, suspicion, qualm, hesitation, nervousness, restlessness, inquietude, disquietude, worry, concern, batophobia, heartquake, flutter, trepidation, fear and trembling, perturbation, tremor, quivering, shaking, trembling, throbbing heart, palpitation, ague fit, cold sweat, abject fear, mortal funk, heartsinking, despondency, despair, fright, affright, affrightment, boof alarm, dread, awe, terror, horror, dismay, consternation, panic, scare, stampede (of horses), intimidation, terrorism, reign of terror, bug bear, bugaboo, scarecrow, hobgoblin, nightmare, Gorgon, mormo, ogre, Hurlothrumbo, raw head and bloody bones, fee-faw-fum, bete noire, enfant terrible, alarmist, fearing, frightened, in fear, in a fright, haunted with the fear of, afeard, afraid, fearful, timid, timorous, nervous, diffident, coy, faint- hearted, tremulous, shaky, afraid of one's shadow, apprehensive, restless, fidgety, more frightened than hurt, aghast, awe-stricken, horror-stricken, terror-stricken, panic- stricken, awestruck, awe-stricken, horror-struck, frightened to death, white as a sheet, pale, pale as a ghost, pale as death, pale as ashes, breathless, in hysterics, inspiring fear, alarming, formidable, redoubtable, perilous, portentous, fearful, dread, dreadful, fell, dire, direful, shocking, terrible, terrific, tremendous, horrid, horrible, horrific, ghastly, awful, awe-inspiring, revolting, Gorgonian, in terrorem, Int, angels and ministers of grace defend us!, ante tubam trepidat, horresco referens, one's heart failing one, obstupui steteruntque comae et vox faucibus haesit, a dagger of the mind, expertus metuit, fain would I climb but that I fear to fall, fear is the parent of cruelty, Gorgons and hydras and chimeras dire, omnia tuta timens, our fears do make us traitors.