massivemas‧sive /ˈmæsɪv/ ●●● S2 W3 adjective 
The bell is massive, weighing over 40 tons. the castle’s massive walls► see thesaurus at big2unusually large, powerful, or damaging: My phone bill was massive last month. massive increases in the number of homeless Club members can get a massive discount of £50.massive stroke/heart attack etc He suffered a massive stroke.massive argument/row etc British English I had a massive argument with her.3British English informal extremely good: Listen to this. It’s a massive song.—massively adverb: The president was massively popular.
WORD ORIGINmassive
Origin:
1400-1500 French massif, from masse; ➔ MASS1EXAMPLES FROM OTHER DICTIONARIES
- a massive tax bill
- Her house is massive.
- I had a massive argument with Vicky yesterday.
- The ancient temple's massive stone pillars had begun to crumble.
- The sums involved are massive -- over £12 billion in the first year alone.
- The system is capable of recording massive amounts of information.
- Union leaders are warning of massive job losses.
- But de Lattre, personally taking charge, flew in reinforcements and mustered every available aircraft to bomb the massive Vietminh formations.
- From inside they hear a massive and hysterical scream of the friends letting out their true feelings.
- Gradually the new global masterplan is falling into place: a series of massive bilateral trade agreements are being struck.
- His quarter-measures have brought higher prices, and also provoked massive strikes, but without any prospect of stabilising the economy.
- Oswald lay still, aware of a drone in the block, a heaving breath, grimness, massive sleep.
- The most influential critics were either misanthropic or committed to the need for massive reform.
- There is massive investment in disease and mortality which the system protects by distracting people's attention from it.
- There is a massive file cabinet stuffed with documents so old and densely packed they may be ready to ignite spontaneously.
THESAURUSvery big
extremely big: · The table was enormous.· a huge explosion· Their house is huge.· There is a huge amount of work to be done.· There has been a massive increase in oil prices.· The company is massive, operating in 150 countries.· A massive fire destroyed more than thirty homes.· He’s been under an enormous amount of stress recently.· The changes will have an enormous impact.
[only before noun] very big – used especially to describe the level or number of something: · He achieved great success in America.· The college offers a great number of courses.· a great advantage
extremely big – used about areas, distances, numbers, or amounts: · vast areas of rainforest· A vast number of tourists visit the island every year.
extremely big and much bigger than other things of the same type: · Gigantic waves crashed onto the beach.
extremely big – used about amounts or objects: · James ran up a colossal phone bill.· a colossal statue of Napoleon
having an extremely big effect: · There have been some tremendous changes.· My new job will be a tremendous challenge.· The children were making a tremendous amount of noise.
Longman Language Activatorvery large numbers or amounts · A huge number of people turned up for the demonstration.· Their profits are enormous.· Joan had very little money, and her hotel bill was huge.· Enormous sums of money were spent on the construction of the Channel Tunnel.
use this about an amount, number etc that is so large that it cannot be easily measured: · The refugees arrived in vast numbers from villages all along the border.· Vast quantities of food and drink were consumed at the wedding.
extremely large: · The system is capable of recording massive amounts of information.· Union leaders are warning of massive job losses.· The sums involved are massive -- over £12 billion in the first year alone.
use this about numbers or amounts, especially of money, that are extremely and surprisingly large: · Children are failing exams and dropping out of school in colossal numbers.
spoken informal a whopping sum of money or number is extremely large: · He managed to get a TV celebrity to open the theatre -- but at a whopping fee.· In the divorce proceedings, she demanded the car and a whopping two-thirds of the family business.
very big very big and impressive: · She wears an engagement ring set with a huge diamond.· My grandmother was wearing an enormous hat.· She looked at the huge motorcycle. "I'll never be able to ride that!''· There was an enormous spider in the bottom of the bath.· By the time of his death the company had grown into an enormous multi-national operation.
very big and impressive - used especially in literature: · Like great sailing ships, the clouds sped across the sky.· As far as the eye could see, there stretched a great herd of buffalo.
spoken extremely big: · They've built a great big shopping mall in the centre of town.· There are fish in the pool, great big ones.· She was given a great big bunch of flowers.
use this about things that are extremely big and impressive, especially when they are solid and heavy: · Her house is massive.· The ancient temple's massive stone pillars had begun to crumble.· The bell is massive, weighing over forty tons.
much bigger than other things of the same type, often in a slightly strange or frightening way: · Gigantic waves more than 40 feet high crashed against the boat.· These gigantic creatures became extinct in the Jurassic period.
extremely and surprisingly big - used especially about structures, buildings, and other things that have been built: · There was a colossal statue of the King in the middle of the square.· A crane arrived, its colossal arm reaching out of the sky toward the building.
use this about a plant or animal that has grown to an unusually large size, or is of a type that is always much larger than ordinary plants or animals: · Giant cabbages grew in the garden.· Be careful. The forest is full of giant snakes and spiders.· ...and then this giant green monster appeared from the cave.
use this about packets, bottles, or other products that are much bigger than the size that is usually sold: · an extra large packet of cornflakes· Extra large eggs are generally a better buy than medium or large.
spoken informal to be extremely big compared to the usual size: · Look at the size of that pumpkin -- it's a whopper.
COLLOCATIONS FROM THE ENTRY He suffered a massive stroke. a large influx of tourists in the summer the threat of massive retaliation against British troops
1very large, solid, and heavy: He suffered a massive stroke. British English I had a massive argument with her.
COLLOCATIONS FROM OTHER ENTRIES I had a massive argument with her.· It’s a great advantage to be able to speak some Spanish.
· There was a big argument about whether we should move to a new house.
(=very big)· The recession left the Government with a massive deficit.
(=very big)· a series of massive demonstrations against the war
· Much of the city was rebuilt after the massive destruction of World War II.
(=extremely big)· 1906 is remembered for the great earthquake that destroyed San Francisco.
(=very big)· There are plans for a massive expansion of the oil and gas industries.
· An enormous explosion tore the roof off the building.
· Elizabeth is a massive fan of Elton John.
· Industry has a huge impact on the environment we live in.· The impact has been enormous on people’s daily lives.
(=very big)· There was a huge increase in emigration after the war.
a large influx of tourists in the summer· Developing a new computer system is always a big investment for any organisation.
· A major programme of modernisation is transforming public transport in London.
· The company is heading towards a disaster of enormous proportions.
· They reacted to the king’s forced abdication with massive public protests.
· The opening of the trial generated considerable publicity.
· Several large rallies were held in December.
(=very large)· There is no reason why the new technology should mean a massive reduction in employment.
the threat of massive retaliation against British troops· The result was a huge rise in unemployment.
· The drug is produced on a massive scale.
· Dean shrugged his massive shoulders.
(=one that has very bad effects)· Her brother has just died of a massive stroke.
· The journal published the results of a massive study of 87,000 women.
· We have massive public support.
· These measures could result in massive unemployment in the construction industry.
COLLOCATIONS FROM THE CORPUSADVERB· She was made of flexible bamboo, while the majority of the other rafts had been more massive, sturdy timber structures.· Held fast by their iron hoops, they seemed more massive than their size; massive with an inner strength.· This seems bizarre enough, but what about a star which is more massive still?· The Cytherean atmosphere is far more massive than that of the Earth, and the surface temperatures are considerably higher.· Unless the companion is vastly more massive than the Sun, this also indicates that the stars have small orbits.· The railways made a more massive impact.· However, stars more massive than the sun will burn up their fuel much more rapidly.
NOUN· Conversely, it takes a quite massive amount of scientific evidence to have a substance positively recommended for health.· Many of these projects are now losing massive amounts of money and only survive with public subsidies.· Leaks from Clinton's team suggest Democrats may clamp down on the massive amounts executives can earn.· The problem, he said, was in developing a system capable of recording the massive amounts of information.· There is a massive amount of crime which is never recognised.· National and Statewide campaigns also require massive amounts of energy and stamina, as well as superior fund raising skills.· The most important area on which to concentrate was the massive amount of water required by the production of textiles.· They sold massive amounts of albums and concert tickets, but were never a singles band.
· In parts of Lincolnshire, for example, the early seventeenth century saw a massive attack on the former open fields.· A Colonel Herbinger, drunk at the time, thought in his stupor that the enemy had launched a massive attack.· The massive attacks work well for the opening movement, with its homage to Bach.
· The axial spin of the more massive body M tends to carry the tide ahead of the orbital motion.· It seemed a physical impossibility, her massive body bounding with the grace of a ballerina.· Even so, the implications of this theory for old stars and other massive bodies were not generally realized until the 1960s.· A moment later, the whole massive body of the Titan itself lurched and tottered.· Marsanne is known for its massive body and intense honey flavors.· More generally, document boundaries may be blurred and a massive body of material may be collected together in one interlinked corpus.· This would require a massive body taking such a path to follow a space-like geodesic.
· But the Seventies and Eighties brought massive change.· Part of the problem was that the act called for massive changes in education without putting any of the infrastructure in place.· Yet the return of the Republicans from the wilderness did not lead to massive changes in domestic policy.· A massive change of public sentiment is always overdetermined.· Economic development was also creating massive changes in the subordinate classes.· To cope with these massive changes, entrepreneurial governments have begun to transform themselves.· Electricity turned night into day, a massive change.· None concedes the massive change of principle that such an extension would require.
· The sudden and massive expansion of the company's market in the early Seventies had several repercussions.· For individuals this means more complex forms and a massive expansion of means testing.· It fully expected a massive expansion.· There was also a massive expansion in the formal schooling system, with an emphasis on building rural schools.
· The impact had caused a massive explosion which had ravaged the planet.· Witnesses reported at least one massive explosion, which rocked houses up to a quarter of a mile away.· A massive explosion occurred during testing at Tobolsk on the same pipeline in October.
· The patient had come to the hospital for tests, and suffered a massive heart attack.· Of course, he defied doctor's orders, and in 1977 he died of a massive heart attack, aged sixty.· Little Sam Howard-Murphy was just three weeks old when he died from massive heart problems.· Staff made frantic attempts to revive him but he is thought to have suffered a massive heart attack.
· We are anxious to know where this massive increase will be found?· For example, the huge increase in the number of motor vehicles has led to a massive increase in auto-crimes.· Despite the massive increase in the volume of research in psychology and ethology, little progress seems to have been made.· To cope with the massive increase in prosecutions, the paper even suggests revisions to the legal system to deal with offenders.· The main factor causing this redistribution seems to have been a massive increase in non-serious wounding.· Would not a massive increase of jobs ensure that training be integrated to economic revival and be more productive in finding work?· We have made it clear that we see no case for a further massive increase in the structural funds.· There was a massive increase in the past few years, now there is a complete slump.
· Vauxhall has shrugged off the difficulties faced by other car manufacturers to bring the massive investment to its plant at Ellesmere Port.· Polaroid is not going to make any new massive investments in instant photography for consumers.· There is massive investment in disease and mortality which the system protects by distracting people's attention from it.· The Communists made massive investments that did not pay off because of a poor incentive structure.· We have massive investment at present and we want to see it continue.· Some third world countries are now making massive investment in basic education.· The result was a massive investment in staff training and development.
· The alternative is massive retaliation by missiles aimed at the enemy's cities, which will stay put.· Dulles used massive retaliation as the chief instrument of containment.· There was a psychological as well as a military problem involved in massive retaliation.· In its first test massive retaliation had won a victory.· The strategy would later be called massive retaliation.· Dulles called the policy massive retaliation.
· The retirement condition encouraged an end to workforce participation on a massive scale and established arbitrary ages as the customary retirement ages.· It was the first time women used e-mail on such a massive scale to network and to influence the foreign policy community.· Token descriptions on a massive scale are now possible with the development of the computer.· But the Oregon story also illustrates some of the difficulties that will accompany legislative changes on such a massive scale.· To give body to the reforms new building was needed on a massive scale.· And who are these guys to second-guess the Founding Fathers on such a massive scale?· The past decade has seen labour-shedding on a massive scale.· There was also evidence of vote-buying on a massive scale.
· The surface was paved with massive stones and on these watery foundations Venice was built - a floating city!· The surgeons of our corps selected for a hospital a large massive stone building....· With massive stone lintels curved to follow the circumference of a circle, the neolithic builders were accurate in their work.· A colonnade of massive stone pillars extended along the entire 462 feet of its front.· They were probably also used to transport the massive stones needed for constructing the complex.· The vault was supported on eight massive stone piers fronted by granite columns 38 feet high.
· He died suddenly of another massive stroke three and a half years after his original illness.· In April 1991, ten months after reelection, Molly suffered a massive stroke that incapacitated her for months.· But I am sorry to tell you that he passed away on after a massive stroke.· Bill Dailey, 54, a bartender at the downtown Radisson Hotel, also bounded back from a massive stroke.
The bell is massive, weighing over 40 tons. the castle’s massive walls► see thesaurus at big2unusually large, powerful, or damaging: My phone bill was massive last month. massive increases in the number of homeless Club members can get a massive discount of £50.massive stroke/heart attack etc He suffered a massive stroke.massive argument/row etc British English I had a massive argument with her.3British English informal extremely good: Listen to this. It’s a massive song.—massively adverb: The president was massively popular.