Definitions

from The Century Dictionary.

  • noun The state or quality of being monstrous, in any sense of that word; especially, enormity; exceeding wickedness.

from the GNU version of the Collaborative International Dictionary of English.

  • noun The state or quality of being monstrous, unusual, extraordinary.

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.

  • noun uncountable The state or condition of being monstrous.
  • noun countable Something monstrous.

Etymologies

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Examples

  • But monstrousness is the province of people who take action against others -- that's what Marilyn Nelson is talking about herself: "known to have done monstrous things"

    "What do YOU do when your favorite author turns out to be a puppy-kicker?" Roger Sutton 2009

  • There is that strange kind of monstrousness in the common hope of men; that whereas a christian hopes, be cause God in his word hath promised, who cannot lie; they hope, even with reference to these their greatest concernments, because they think he will lie.

    The Whole Works of the Rev. John Howe, M.A. with a Memoir of the Author. Vol. VI. 1630-1705 1822

  • We must cover our monstrousness, lest society pounce.

    "This is my dream. I make the path." readingthedark 2010

  • Where for Shelley monstrousness arises out of Frankenstein's refusal to engage with the social reality of what he has done, for Wells, it is brutal, ongoing engagement itself that is the cause of the horror.

    The stars of modern SF pick the best science fiction 2011

  • Haroun was partly a response to the monstrousness of his enforced withdrawal from the world and partly a gift for his son Zafar, who had asked him to write something that children might enjoy reading.

    Luka and the Fire of Life by Salman Rushdie - review Alex Clark 2010

  • Because making Dan and Laurie into casual killers kind of breaks the monstrousness of what Rorschach and the Comedian are, and kind of undercuts the monstrous deal that they have to make with Veidt in the end.

    We watched Watchmen | Robot 6 @ Comic Book Resources – Covering Comic Book News and Entertainment 2009

  • I was too caught up in the relentless forward drive of its narrative, in the complexities of its narrator, (Jonah Koenig, just for the record), and in the monstrousness of the man he has pursued to a California mining town that might have been imagined by Gustave Dore.

    Archive 2010-03-01 Blue Tyson 2010

  • It's not so much the subject matter -- the usual LaButian insights about the casual cruelty of men, and the monstrousness of human nature more generally -- but instead the apparent incompetence with which these insights are translated specifically into fiction.

    Realism in Fiction 2008

  • Equally, in the words of Little Light – and this is such a strong, affirmative statement, My monstrousness is not a place of shame.

    A most poor credulous monster 2008

  • Alternatively, it is possible to read those memos as shocking evidence of the criminality of their authors and the moral monstrousness of those who commissioned them.

    Marty Kaplan: Bye Bye Bybee 2009

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