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apprentice
Guest
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| Posted: Mon Aug 08, 2005 3:06 pm
Post subject: gradation |
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How would you order those words from the smallest to the biggest one?
big
large
huge
enormous
gigantic
any others?
Is large smaller than huge?
Is enormous bigger or smaller than gigantic?
How do u native speakers feel about that?
Regards,
Pawel
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John Hall
Guest
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| Posted: Mon Aug 08, 2005 3:29 pm
Post subject: Re: gradation |
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In article <1d81a$42f720ba$540aa681$13487@news.chello.pl>,
apprentice <mailpawel@wp.pl> writes:
| Quote: | How would you order those words from the smallest to the biggest one?
big
large
huge
enormous
gigantic
any others?
Is large smaller than huge?
Is enormous bigger or smaller than gigantic?
How do u native speakers feel about that?
|
I would say that "big" and "large" are synonyms, that "huge" and
"enormous" are also synonyms and are larger than the first two, and that
"gigantic" is largest of all.
--
John Hall
"Banking was conceived in iniquity and born in sin"
Sir Josiah Stamp, a former president of the Bank of England |
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Nick Wagg
Guest
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| Posted: Mon Aug 08, 2005 3:34 pm
Post subject: Re: gradation |
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"apprentice" <mailpawel@wp.pl> wrote in message
news:1d81a$42f720ba$540aa681$13487@news.chello.pl...
| Quote: | How would you order those words from the smallest to the biggest one?
big
large
huge
enormous
gigantic
|
I would agree with your ordering so far, although large and big are almost
synonymous, to my ear at least.
"Ginormous" is a humorous combination of the latter two, presumably
coined to convey the idea of something even bigger than either.
"Leviathan", sometimes used as an adjective, was originally a noun,
used in the Bible to describe an enormous sea monster, usually
thought to be a whale. "Behemoth" also is a huge biblical monster,
possibly the hippopotamus, which is in occasional use - I heard it
used last night of the ship "Titanic", which also can be used to describe
something "vast". Oh, there's another one, although it sometimes
carries the connotation of being spread out or sparse.
We sometimes say "a whale of a..." to describe something big, or
"elephantine", meaning as big as an elephant.
"Great", often used with big as in "great big" has the connotation of
powerful.
"Immense" is huge or enormous.
"Infinite" is endless. There's nothing bigger.
"Massive" is big or huge, but also "heavy", unless you are a physicist
in which case we would have to discuss the difference between "mass"
and "weight". There's also "weighty" but that is used more metaphorically,
such as a "weighty argument".
| Quote: | Is large smaller than huge?
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Oh, definitely.
| Quote: | Is enormous bigger or smaller than gigantic?
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Probably smaller, but I'd be prepared to give way on this one.
| Quote: | How do u native speakers feel about that?
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I think that you probably already have as much feel for these things
as we have. Congratulations.
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Tony Mountifield
Guest
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| Posted: Mon Aug 08, 2005 5:14 pm
Post subject: Re: gradation |
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In article <fqkm4iKpXy9CFwaV@jhall.demon.co.uk>,
John Hall <john_nospam@jhall.co.uk> wrote:
| Quote: | In article <1d81a$42f720ba$540aa681$13487@news.chello.pl>,
apprentice <mailpawel@wp.pl> writes:
How would you order those words from the smallest to the biggest one?
big
large
huge
enormous
gigantic
any others?
Is large smaller than huge?
Is enormous bigger or smaller than gigantic?
How do u native speakers feel about that?
I would say that "big" and "large" are synonyms, that "huge" and
"enormous" are also synonyms and are larger than the first two, and that
"gigantic" is largest of all.
|
How about humungous/humongous and gargantuan?
Cheers
Tony
--
Tony Mountifield
Work: tony@softins.co.uk - http://www.softins.co.uk
Play: tony@mountifield.org - http://tony.mountifield.org |
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Ivan
Guest
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| Posted: Mon Aug 08, 2005 11:26 pm
Post subject: Re: gradation |
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John Hall wrote:
| Quote: | In article <1d81a$42f720ba$540aa681$13487@news.chello.pl>,
apprentice <mailpawel@wp.pl> writes:
How would you order those words from the smallest to the biggest one?
big
large
huge
enormous
gigantic
any others?
Is large smaller than huge?
Is enormous bigger or smaller than gigantic?
How do u native speakers feel about that?
I would say that "big" and "large" are synonyms, that "huge" and
"enormous" are also synonyms and are larger than the first two, and that
"gigantic" is largest of all.
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I disagree. Any ordering of these words is entirely subjective.
Ivan |
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Gartons
Guest
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| Posted: Wed Aug 10, 2005 4:23 pm
Post subject: Re: gradation |
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"Ivan" <vorotyntsev@yahoo.com> wrote in message
news:1123522014.821677.102290@g44g2000cwa.googlegroups.com...
| Quote: |
John Hall wrote:
In article <1d81a$42f720ba$540aa681$13487@news.chello.pl>,
apprentice <mailpawel@wp.pl> writes:
How would you order those words from the smallest to the biggest one?
big
large
huge
enormous
gigantic
any others?
Is large smaller than huge?
Is enormous bigger or smaller than gigantic?
How do u native speakers feel about that?
I would say that "big" and "large" are synonyms, that "huge" and
"enormous" are also synonyms and are larger than the first two, and that
"gigantic" is largest of all.
I disagree. Any ordering of these words is entirely subjective.
Ivan
How about. . . Economy and family sizes? |
JG |
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