Literary notes about colossal (AI summary)
The word “colossal” is utilized in literature to convey a sense of overwhelming magnitude, whether it pertains to physical dimensions, emotional states, or the impact of an event. Authors employ it to describe tangible objects—towering statues, immense buildings, or vast natural formations—as in depictions of monumental temples ([1], [2]) and gigantic ruins or edifices ([3], [4]). At the same time, “colossal” can be used metaphorically to evoke grand energy or significance, capturing everything from the boundless force of human endeavor ([5], [6]) to the dramatic weight of a sigh or a moment in time ([7], [8]). Its versatility even extends into humor or irony when applied to human follies ([9], [10]), underscoring its power to amplify both the literal and figurative extremes in literature.
- In the colossal temples of Asia Minor, where the taste for the vast and grandiose was more pronounced, blocks of much greater size were used.
— from The Declaration of Independence of the United States of America by Thomas Jefferson - On the summit of the pillar, above one hundred and twenty feet from the ground, stood the colossal statue of Apollo.
— from The History of the Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire by Edward Gibbon - It might have been mistaken for the colossal ruins of an old town inhabited by Cyclops.
— from Complete Original Short Stories of Guy De Maupassant by Guy de Maupassant - It is a colossal edifice with crystal roof, built in the shape of a huge pork kidney, containing forty thousand rooms.
— from Ulysses by James Joyce - A German officer said: "This colossal energy is the most remarkable event of modern history, and will carry down Gambetta's name to remote posterity.
— from Pushing to the Front by Orison Swett Marden - From this small beginning Cornelius Vanderbilt laid the foundation of a colossal fortune.
— from Pushing to the Front by Orison Swett Marden - A long, lingering, colossal sigh followed, and his heart broke.
— from The Adventures of Tom Sawyer, Complete by Mark Twain - The hours were colossal and seemed hours of eternity.
— from Les Misérables by Victor Hugo - "And I confidently anticipate that you will make an equally colossal ass of yourself on the thirty-first of this month.
— from Right Ho, Jeeves by P. G. Wodehouse - I made the most colossal ass of myself."
— from Right Ho, Jeeves by P. G. Wodehouse
