massive

adjective

mas·​sive ˈma-siv 

1

: forming or consisting of a large mass:

a

: bulky

massive furniture

b

: weighty, heavy

massive walls

a massive volume

c

: impressively large or ponderous

stars more massive than the sun

d

: having no regular form but not necessarily lacking crystalline structure

massive sandstone

2

a

: large, solid, or heavy in structure

massive jaw

b

: large in scope or degree

the feeling of frustration, of being ineffectual, is massive

—David Halberstam

c(1)

: large in comparison to what is typical

a massive dose of penicillin

(2)

: being extensive and severe

massive hemorrhage

(3)

: imposing in excellence or grandeur

massive simplicity

the most massive American dramatist of his time

—Newsweek

3

: having mass (see mass entry 2 sense 1c)

a massive boson

massively adverb

massiveness noun

Synonyms

• heavy
• hefty
• ponderous
• weighty

Examples of massive in a Sentence

The fort had massive walls.

stars more massive than the sun

A massive effort will be required to clean up the debris.

You can find a massive amount of information on the Internet.

The stunt received massive publicity.

a massive collection of baseball cards

Recent Examples on the Web

The event in Greenland's Dickson Fjord registered on sensitive seismographs from the Arctic to Antarctica for nine days following a massive landslide that sent more than 32 million cubic yards of rock and ice crashing into the fjord and triggering a tsunami with a wave height that reached 650 feet. —Stephen J. Beard, USA TODAY, 25 Sep. 2024

The addition of those four tunes played a huge role in that massive increase in sales, but there were other reasons why fans revisited the set. —Hugh McIntyre, Forbes, 24 Sep. 2024

The country has been rocked by multiple crises in recent years, including the COVID-19 pandemic and a massive fertilizer explosion in the Port of Beirut in 2020 that killed more than 200 people and left roughly 250,000 others homeless. —Jacob Knutson, Axios, 24 Sep. 2024

With the rise of artificial intelligence (AI) and other frontier technologies, the need for high-quality digital infrastructure will be more critical than ever to handle the massive data flows, real-time analytics, and seamless connectivity that AI technologies depend on. —Klaus Schwab, Fortune, 24 Sep. 2024

Word History

Etymology

Middle English massiffe, from Anglo-French mascif, alteration of massiz, from Vulgar Latin *massicius, from Latin massa mass

First Known Use

15th century, in the meaning defined at sense 1

Kids Definition

massive

adjective

mas·​sive ˈmas-iv 

1

: weighty sense 1, heavy

massive walls

2

a

: large, solid, or heavy in structure

a massive jaw

b

: large in extent or degree

a massive effort

3

: having mass

massively adverb

massiveness noun

Medical Definition

massive

adjective

mas·​sive ˈmas-iv 

1

: large in comparison to what is typical

—used especially of medical dosage or of an infectious agent

a massive dose of penicillin

2

: being extensive and severe

—used of a pathologic condition

a massive hemorrhage

a massive collapse of a lung