Words: humongous, adj.
Your support helps us to tell the story
From reproductive rights to climate change to Big Tech, The Independent is on the ground when the story is developing. Whether it's investigating the financials of Elon Musk's pro-Trump PAC or producing our latest documentary, 'The A Word', which shines a light on the American women fighting for reproductive rights, we know how important it is to parse out the facts from the messaging.
At such a critical moment in US history, we need reporters on the ground. Your donation allows us to keep sending journalists to speak to both sides of the story.
The Independent is trusted by Americans across the entire political spectrum. And unlike many other quality news outlets, we choose not to lock Americans out of our reporting and analysis with paywalls. We believe quality journalism should be available to everyone, paid for by those who can afford it.
Your support makes all the difference.SURELY ONE of the ugliest words ever to slither its way into our dictionaries, humongous, or humungous, began life in the US around 1970 and has proved impossible to eradicate. A silly and affected synonym for huge or enormous, it serves no purpose not covered by those words and is thus redundant. Yet the compilers of the Chambers, Collins and Oxford dictionaries have all included it rather than leaving it in a pile of dubious neologisms and hoping it will go away.
Bodacious was another word that came into vogue at about the same time as humongous, but this has a respectable pedigree dating back to the mid- 19th century. A variant of an older dialect term, boldacious, it implies boldness and audacity rather than, as modern usage suggests, merely an ample chest.
Join our commenting forum
Join thought-provoking conversations, follow other Independent readers and see their replies
Comments