mountainous

English

Etymology

From mountain +‎ -ousCategory:English terms suffixed with -ous#MOUNTAINOUS after Middle FrenchCategory:English terms borrowed from Middle French#MOUNTAINOUSCategory:English terms derived from Middle French#MOUNTAINOUS montagneux, from Late LatinCategory:English terms derived from Late Latin#MOUNTAINOUS montāniōsus, from montānia, from LatinCategory:English terms derived from Latin#MOUNTAINOUS montem (“mountain”).

Pronunciation

Adjective

mountainous (comparative more mountainous, superlative most mountainous)Category:English lemmas#MOUNTAINOUSCategory:English adjectives#MOUNTAINOUSCategory:English entries with incorrect language header#MOUNTAINOUSCategory:Pages with entries#MOUNTAINOUSCategory:Pages with 1 entry#MOUNTAINOUS

  1. Having many mountains; characterized by mountains; of the nature of a mountain; rough (terrain); rocky.
    • 1705, George Cheyne, “Of the Existence of a Deity”, in Philosophical Principles of Natural Religion: […], London: […] George Strahan […], →OCLC, § XXIX, page 184:
      [Water vapour bubbles] hit againſt the ſides of the more eminent and Mountainous Places, of the Globe, and by this Concuſſion are condenſed, and thus become heavier than the Air they ſvvom in, and ſo gleet dovvn the rocky Caverns of theſe Mountains, […]
      Category:English terms with quotations#MOUNTAINOUS
    • 1956 April, H. A. Vallance, “To Oslo via Stavanger”, in Railway Magazine, page 213:
      The mountainous nature of Norway has always been a serious obstacle to the development of railways, and although some 2,700 route miles are now open for traffic, several schemes have yet to be completed.
      Category:English terms with quotations#MOUNTAINOUS
    • 2024 October 1, Simon Montlake, “In mountainous North Carolina, residents are the first responders after Hurricane Helene”, in The Christian Science Monitor‎, archived from the original on 5 October 2024:
      While the physical and human toll now is likely to be lower, the mountainous terrain and dispersed population make the response to Helene tough to manage and could slow the transition to a recovery phase, after power and other services are restored.
      Category:English terms with quotations#MOUNTAINOUS
  2. Resembling a mountain, especially in size; huge; towering.
  3. (figurative, of a problem or task) Very difficult.
    • 2016 August 4, “Off-hand remark in Rio chafes Chinese Net”, in Global Times‎, archived from the original on 7 March 2020:
      As Brazil faced the mountainous task of completing an Olympic venue before the opening ceremony, Chinese netizens got busy molehilling a remark by a Rio construction manager about their China supplier.
      Category:English terms with quotations#MOUNTAINOUS
  4. (obsoleteCategory:English terms with obsolete senses#MOUNTAINOUS) Inhabiting mountains; hence, barbarous.

Synonyms

Derived terms

Translations

See also

Category:en:Size#MOUNTAINOUS
Category:English 3-syllable words Category:English 4-syllable words Category:English adjectives Category:English lemmas Category:English terms borrowed from Middle French Category:English terms derived from Late Latin Category:English terms derived from Latin Category:English terms derived from Middle French Category:English terms suffixed with -ous Category:English terms with IPA pronunciation Category:English terms with audio pronunciation Category:English terms with obsolete senses Category:English terms with quotations Category:Entries with translation boxes Category:Pages with 1 entry Category:Pages with entries Category:Terms with Ancient Greek translations Category:Terms with Arabic translations Category:Terms with Armenian translations Category:Terms with Asturian translations Category:Terms with Azerbaijani translations Category:Terms with Belarusian translations Category:Terms with Bulgarian translations Category:Terms with Catalan translations Category:Terms with Czech translations Category:Terms with Danish translations Category:Terms with Dutch translations Category:Terms with Esperanto translations Category:Terms with Finnish translations Category:Terms with French translations Category:Terms with Galician translations Category:Terms with Georgian translations Category:Terms with German translations Category:Terms with Hijazi Arabic translations Category:Terms with Hungarian translations Category:Terms with Ido translations Category:Terms with Ingrian translations Category:Terms with Irish translations Category:Terms with Italian translations Category:Terms with Kazakh translations Category:Terms with Khakas translations Category:Terms with Latin translations Category:Terms with Macedonian translations Category:Terms with Mandarin translations Category:Terms with Marathi translations Category:Terms with Middle English translations Category:Terms with Mongolian translations Category:Terms with Norwegian Bokmål translations Category:Terms with Norwegian Nynorsk translations Category:Terms with Persian translations Category:Terms with Piedmontese translations Category:Terms with Plautdietsch translations Category:Terms with Polish translations Category:Terms with Portuguese translations Category:Terms with Romansh translations Category:Terms with Russian translations Category:Terms with Scottish Gaelic translations Category:Terms with Serbo-Croatian translations Category:Terms with Shor translations Category:Terms with Slovak translations Category:Terms with Slovene translations Category:Terms with Spanish translations Category:Terms with Swedish translations Category:Terms with Tagalog translations Category:Terms with Tausug translations Category:Terms with Turkish translations Category:Terms with Tuvan translations Category:Terms with Ukrainian translations Category:Terms with Unami translations Category:Terms with Uzbek translations Category:Terms with Welsh translations Category:Terms with Yakut translations Category:en:Size