Literary notes about Tremendous (AI summary)
In literature, the adjective tremendous functions as an intensifier that amplifies the scale or impact of an idea, emotion, or phenomenon. It can denote overwhelming power or magnitude, as seen when it characterizes the formidable might of sea power in [1] or the severe force of nature in [2] and [3]. At the same time, tremendous emphasizes extraordinary personal characteristics or dramatic shifts, whether it’s describing a commanding figure in [4] and [5] or underscoring the explosive effect of a moment in [6] and [7]. Moreover, its use spans both the literal and the metaphorical—from accentuating physical prowess and tumultuous events to enriching dialogue with comic or ironic undertones as in [8] and [9].
- but by the superiority of her government using the tremendous weapon of her sea power.
— from The Influence of Sea Power Upon History, 1660-1783 by A. T. Mahan - It blew a tremendous gale from the eastward, with sleet and snow, and there was every promise of a dangerous and fatiguing night.
— from Two Years Before the Mast by Richard Henry Dana - It was so loud and tremendous that for the moment I actually thought that a thunderstorm had burst upon us....
— from The Early Poems of Alfred Lord Tennyson by Baron Alfred Tennyson Tennyson - He had been a tremendous figure, no doubt.
— from The Red Badge of Courage: An Episode of the American Civil War by Stephen Crane - I can't deny it; the commander's words had a tremendous effect on me.
— from Twenty Thousand Leagues Under the Seas: An Underwater Tour of the World by Jules Verne - My new life had lasted for more than a week, and I was stronger than ever in those tremendous practical resolutions that I felt the crisis required.
— from David Copperfield by Charles Dickens - The boat rasped and ground her way through the sand, hung upon the apex of disaster a single tremendous instant, and then over she went!
— from Life on the Mississippi by Mark Twain - 'A tremendous family to provide for,' muttered Scrooge.
— from A Christmas Carol by Charles Dickens - "I never fancied cats much till I found the First Mate," he remarked, to the accompaniment of the Mate's tremendous purrs.
— from Anne's House of Dreams by L. M. Montgomery
