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ENGLISH · A WORD WITH POSSIBILITIES

monster.

A terrifying and dangerous creature, especially one of an imaginary or fictional kind.

7 characters2 syllables approx.English language

Meaning & usage

noun/ˈmɒnstə(ɹ)/Received-Pronunciation/ˈmɑnstɚ/US
  1. A terrifying and dangerous creature, especially one of an imaginary or fictional kind.

  2. A terrifying and dangerous creature, especially one of an imaginary or fictional kind. A cruel, heartless, or antisocial person, especially a criminal.

    Get away from those children, you monster!
  3. A terrifying and dangerous creature, especially one of an imaginary or fictional kind. A badly behaved person, especially a child; a brat.

    figuratively · humorous
    Sit still, you little monster!
  4. A terrifying and dangerous creature, especially one of an imaginary or fictional kind. A prodigy; someone very talented in a specific domain.

    informal
    That dude playing guitar is a monster.
  5. A creature of unnatural or highly unusual shape or form (which makes a frightening or unpleasant impression). Something very or unusually large.

    informal
    Have you seen those powerlifters on TV? They're monsters.
  6. A creature of unnatural or highly unusual shape or form (which makes a frightening or unpleasant impression). A deformed animal or person (especially, a severely deformed one); in previous centuries often taken as an ill omen at the time of its birth. (Offensive when applied to humans in modern usage.)

    archaic
    The villagers were worried because the weather had been strange and several monsters had been born among the flocks and people.
  7. A creature of unnatural or highly unusual shape or form (which makes a frightening or unpleasant impression). A deformed animal or person (especially, a severely deformed one); in previous centuries often taken as an ill omen at the time of its birth. (Offensive when applied to humans in modern usage.) A disabled person, especially a physically disabled person.

    archaic · offensive
  8. A bizarre or whimsical creature.

    The children decided Grover was a cuddly monster.
  9. A non-player character that player(s) fight against in role-playing games; a mob

Where this word comes from

Etymology tree Proto-Indo-European *men- Proto-Indo-European *-yeti Proto-Indo-European *-éyeti Proto-Indo-European *monéyeti Proto-Italic *man-eje- Proto-Italic *moneō Proto-Indo-European *-tḗr Proto-Indo-European *-trom Proto-Italic *-trom Proto-Italic *monestrom Latin mōnstrumbor. Old French monstrebor. Middle English monstre English monster From Middle English monstre, from Old French monstre, mostre, moustre, from Latin mōnstrum. Displaced native Old English fīfel and Old English þyrs.

adj/ˈmɒnstə(ɹ)/Received-Pronunciation/ˈmɑnstɚ/US
  1. Very large; worthy of a monster.

    informal · not-comparable
    He has a monster appetite.
  2. Great; very good; excellent.

    informal · not-comparable
Where this word comes from

Etymology tree Proto-Indo-European *men- Proto-Indo-European *-yeti Proto-Indo-European *-éyeti Proto-Indo-European *monéyeti Proto-Italic *man-eje- Proto-Italic *moneō Proto-Indo-European *-tḗr Proto-Indo-European *-trom Proto-Italic *-trom Proto-Italic *monestrom Latin mōnstrumbor. Old French monstrebor. Middle English monstre English monster From Middle English monstre, from Old French monstre, mostre, moustre, from Latin mōnstrum. Displaced native Old English fīfel and Old English þyrs.

verb/ˈmɒnstə(ɹ)/Received-Pronunciation/ˈmɑnstɚ/US
  1. To make into a monster; to categorise as a monster; to demonise.

    transitive
  2. To behave as a monster to; to terrorise.

    intransitive
  3. To harass.

    Australia
  4. To play (a series of) non-player characters as directed, without having the responsibility of organising the game itself; generally not limited to playing literal monsters or hostile combatants.

    UK
    Are you monstering that event?
Where this word comes from

Etymology tree Proto-Indo-European *men- Proto-Indo-European *-yeti Proto-Indo-European *-éyeti Proto-Indo-European *monéyeti Proto-Italic *man-eje- Proto-Italic *moneō Proto-Indo-European *-tḗr Proto-Indo-European *-trom Proto-Italic *-trom Proto-Italic *monestrom Latin mōnstrumbor. Old French monstrebor. Middle English monstre English monster From Middle English monstre, from Old French monstre, mostre, moustre, from Latin mōnstrum. Displaced native Old English fīfel and Old English þyrs.

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Definitions, grammatical labels, IPA, etymology and examples: Wiktionary contributors, extracted by Kaikki / Wiktextract. Adapted under CC BY-SA 4.0. Selected fields and authored examples are shown; third-party quotations and audio are omitted. See contributor history.

Last enriched 2026-09-10. Definitions are in English. Romanizations are shown when supplied by the source; syllable estimates are omitted for unsupported scripts.