mighty

Formsmightier, mightiest

Pluralmighties

1. 1
   strongadjective

   Having great strength or power; very strong.

   The mighty army swept across the plains in a single summer.

   Even the mightiest empires eventually crumble.

   Similarpowerful, strong, formidable, great

   Oppositeweak, feeble, powerless, puny

   Note

   Here is the plain adjective of might, built with -y and already mihtig in Old English. It compares regularly, mightier and mightiest, and can take in to say where the strength lies: the King James Bible of 1611 praises one "wise in heart, and mighty in strength". Beside strong it sounds grander, fit for armies and empires more than for a sturdy shelf.

2. 2
   forceful (blow)adjective

   Very heavy and powerful, carrying great force.

   With one mighty swing of the ax, he split the log in two.

   The boxer landed a mighty punch in the third round.

   Similarpowerful, tremendous, forceful, hefty, heavy

   Oppositefeeble, weak, light

3. 3
   adverbcolloquial

   Very; to a high degree.

   You did a mighty fine job on that fence.

   It's mighty kind of you to drive me all the way home.

   Similarvery, really, awfully, extremely, real

   Note

   Today the adverb sounds colloquial and homey, especially before words of praise or complaint: mighty fine, mighty kind, mighty bad. It is an old use, though: Samuel Pepys records the King "mighty angry" in 1665, and in Thomas Hardy's Tess of the d'Urbervilles (1891) a character exclaims, "He is a mighty handsome man!". Unlike the "excellent" adjective, it leans on an adjective: a mighty cook is excellent, a mighty fine cook very good.

4. 4
   great achievementadjective

   Achieved through great power, and therefore extraordinary or wonderful.

   Raising the cathedral was a mighty undertaking that lasted three centuries.

   Songs about the hero's mighty deeds were sung for generations.

   Similarmonumental, great, tremendous, heroic, prodigious

   Oppositemodest, trivial

   Note

   Great deeds and works are its natural partners: the King James Bible speaks of "his mighty works", and in John Milton's Samson Agonistes (1671) Samson recalls being led on to "mightiest deeds". Because the word is so grand, it also lends itself to irony, as when Nathaniel Hawthorne writes in The Scarlet Letter (1850), "Mighty was their fuss about little matters."

5. 5
   hugeadjectivecolloquial

   Very large; of hefty size.

   The cook set a mighty platter of ribs in the middle of the table.

   The prize pumpkin was a mighty thing, too heavy for one man to lift.

   Similarhuge, enormous, massive, hefty, giant

   Oppositetiny, small

   Note

   Size rather than strength is the point, often with a comic swagger: in Washington Irving's A History of New York (1809) a listener grunts and shovels "a mighty spoonful of Indian pudding" into his mouth. The joke is the borrowed grandeur, a heroic word spent on helpings, platters and pumpkins, which is why the use sounds colloquial.

6. 6
   excellentadjectivecolloquial

   Extremely good of its kind; excellent.

   Her uncle is a mighty storyteller, and the kids always beg him for one more.

   The fiddler played a mighty tune that got the whole hall dancing.

   Similargreat, terrific, excellent, superb, wonderful

   Oppositepoor, terrible, awful

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