formidable

B2 Topic:Describing Qualities

US /ˈfɔɹmɪdəbəl/ UK /fɔːˈmɪdəbəl/ See IPA manual

Freq #10960

Meanings

1

adj
Very impressive in strength, skill, or size, so that you respect or fear it.

She faced a formidable opponent in the final match.
2

adj
Difficult to deal with or overcome.

The team faces a formidable challenge in the coming weeks.

Thesaurus

Synonyms

1 adj · very impressive in... redoubtable

Word family

Forms formidableness

Derived forms formidabilityformidablenessformidablyinformidablesuperformidableunformidable

Appears in

Phrases (1)

See all

formidable opponent
a rival whose strength or skill makes them difficult to defeat

Adjective + noun

Etymology

From Middle English formidable, from Old French formidable, formible, from Latin formīdābilis (“formidable, terrible”), from formīdō (“fear, dread”).

formidable Middle English formīdābilis Latin

View etymology graph ->

Topics

Describing Qualities

External links

# formidable

**Type:** Word
**Level:** B2
**Part of speech:** adj
**IPA (US):** /ˈfɔɹmɪdəbəl/
**IPA (UK):** /fɔːˈmɪdəbəl/
**Frequency rank:** 10960

## Meanings
1. Very impressive in strength, skill, or size, so that you respect or fear it.
2. Difficult to deal with or overcome.

## Examples
- She faced a formidable opponent in the final match.
- The team faces a formidable challenge in the coming weeks.

## Derived Forms
- formidability
- formidableness
- formidably
- informidable
- superformidable
- unformidable

## Roots and Affixes
- Root: formidable
- Root: formīdābilis

## Etymology
From Middle English formidable, from Old French formidable, formible, from Latin formīdābilis (“formidable, terrible”), from formīdō (“fear, dread”).

## AI Etymology
Formidable comes from Middle English formidable, from Old French formidable, formible, from Latin formīdābilis (“formidable, terrible”), from formīdō (“fear, dread”). In current use, the main senses are “Very impressive in strength, skill, or size, so that you respect or fear it” and “Difficult to deal with or overcome”.

## Topics
- Describing Qualities

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