Literary notes about stupendous (AI summary)
In literature, "stupendous" is employed as a powerful intensifier that conveys a sense of vast scale or overwhelming impact. Authors use it both to describe tangible marvels—a clock of immense dimensions [1] or a grand architectural structure [2]—and to highlight the force of abstract concepts, whether in depicting colossal efforts in adversity [3] or the transformative power of nature and thought [4], [5]. The word often signals an experience beyond the ordinary, ranging from a physically imposing environment [6] to an emotional or metaphysical phenomenon that leaves characters and readers in awe [7], [8].
- A huge bucket with water stood at one extremity of the room, and a clock of stupendous dimensions at the other.
— from The Works of Edgar Allan Poe — Volume 2 by Edgar Allan Poe - The whole stood on a mighty platform built up with stupendous masonry and vaulted chambers from the valley surrounding the rock on three 41 sides.
— from The Declaration of Independence of the United States of America by Thomas Jefferson - It was the result of his disasters, and of the stupendous efforts he was obliged to make.
— from The Art of War by baron de Antoine Henri Jomini - It is the infant Thought of man opening itself, with awe and wonder, on this ever-stupendous Universe.
— from On Heroes, Hero-Worship, and the Heroic in History by Thomas Carlyle - Earnest simple recognition of the workings of Physical Nature, as a thing wholly miraculous, stupendous and divine.
— from On Heroes, Hero-Worship, and the Heroic in History by Thomas Carlyle - Nothing, except some traces of its foundations, is now to be seen of this stupendous building.
— from The Natural History of Pliny, Volume 1 (of 6) by the Elder Pliny - She could dimly perceive that something stupendous had happened.
— from Maggie: A Girl of the Streets by Stephen Crane - And yet if there has ever been on earth a real stupendous miracle, it took place on that day, on the day of the three temptations.
— from The Brothers Karamazov by Fyodor Dostoyevsky