monstrosity

noun

mon·​stros·​i·​ty män-ˈsträ-sə-tē 

plural monstrosities

1

a

: a malformation of a plant or animal

b

: something deviating from the normal : freak

2

: the quality or state of being monstrous

the monstrosity of the tsunami's devastation

3

a

: an object of great and often frightening size, force, or complexity

this monstrosity, the atomic bomb

b

: an excessively bad or shocking example

The new mall is an architectural monstrosity.

Synonyms

• abnormality
• anomaly
• freak
• monster

Examples of monstrosity in a Sentence

Did you see the new mall? It's a monstrosity.

any monstrosities born to the farm animals were sent to the agricultural college for study

Recent Examples on the Web

This is a hulking monstrosity of a PC case that can, for some reason, fit an E-ATX motherboard, an ITX motherboard, and the power supplies, fans, and GPUs for both systems in the same case at the same time. —Ars Technica, 10 Jan. 2025

The tension is constant, especially as Caz–known to be pretty tasty in a fistfight–remains unarmed and powerless against the monstrosities on board. —Matt Gardner, Forbes, 1 Jan. 2025

What follows is one of the most tonally bizarre and genuinely fun movies-about-movies ever made, touching on themes about the monstrosity of artistic genius while also letting Dafoe’s vampire be a diva who snatches a bat out of the air and drains it like a Capri Sun in front of the producers. —Elle Carroll, Vulture, 24 Dec. 2024

Advertisement Wandering in separately from the modernist monstrosity across the street are JD (Luke Wilson), a depressed out-of-work actor, and glittery, shallow Margo (Linda Cardellini), who will presently be identified as his wife. —Robert Lloyd, Los Angeles Times, 12 Dec. 2024

Word History

First Known Use

15th century, in the meaning defined at sense 1a

Kids Definition

monstrosity

noun

mon·​stros·​i·​ty män-ˈsträs-ət-ē 

plural monstrosities

1

: the condition of being monstrous

2

: something monstrous : monster