Definition of Formidable
formidable (adjective) - extremely impressive in strength or excellence
View other definitions
How can formidable be used in a sentence?
It's the formidable thing that is changing entertainment now.
That means I need to know how I tick, when I collapse, where my formidable points are, where my weaker points are.
And eventually you get to places where it is formidable and dangerous and unfortunately slides just don't do justice.
(Laughter) They use these formidable devices like scoops, to remove the sperm from previous males that the female has mated with.
So as I showed you, they're usually found on these seals that are very, very tiny.And so given these formidable obstacles, one might wonder and worry whether one will ever be able to decipher the Indus script.
This high school dropout died at the age of 82, a formidable intellectual, cofounder and first CEO of the Hebrew University of Jerusalem, and founder of Schocken Books, an acclaimed imprint that was later acquired by Random House.
Groups that are trying to help sex workers protect themselves against HIV and other occupational hazards, and NGOs that are helping unwed mothers like Faiza find a place in society, and critically, stay with their kids.Now these efforts are small, they're often underfunded, and they face formidable opposition.
Having the convenience and accessibility of regular screening options that are affordable, noninvasive and could provide results much sooner, would provide us with a formidable weapon in the fight against cancer.An early warning would allow us to get out ahead of the disease instead of merely following in its relentless wake.
" C'est formidable ", they exclaimed.
Source
NLTK Brown Corpus (Category: fiction)It is by no stretch of the imagination a happy choice and the arguments against it as a practical strategy are formidable.
Source
NLTK Brown Corpus (Category: editorial)Carvey considers that former Vice President Nixon would be Brown's most formidable foe, with ex-Gov. Knight a close second.
Source
NLTK Brown Corpus (Category: editorial)The weight of fame and history is formidable, and dreary steel engravings in schoolbooks do little to quicken interest and imagination.
Source
NLTK Brown Corpus (Category: belles_lettres)It was essential that he should restore his formidable reputation as a rip-roaring, ruthless gun-slinger, and this was the time-honored Wild West method of doing it.
Source
NLTK Brown Corpus (Category: adventure)They looked so formidable, however, so demanding, that I found myself staring at them in dismay and starting to woolgather again, this time about Francesca and her husband.
Source
NLTK Brown Corpus (Category: humor)Then there was Mark Howe and there was Henry Dwight Sedgwick, an accomplished man of letters who wrote in the spirit of Montaigne and produced in the end a formidable body of work.
Source
NLTK Brown Corpus (Category: belles_lettres)As an obvious consequence, obstacles to genuine interfaith communication have grown more formidable in one important area: relations between Christians and non-Christians in these lands.
Source
NLTK Brown Corpus (Category: religion)Upon intelligence that the formidable agitator was to favor them with his presence, the benighted inhabitants of Pawtuxet, alas, gave their allegiance to Massachusetts and asked that colony to expel the newcomers.
Source
NLTK Brown Corpus (Category: belles_lettres)Undoubtedly one merit of the vast panorama of Gentile conceptions of the Jew unfolded in the present anthology is that it provides a formidable body of material that invites critical examination in terms of reality.
Source
NLTK Brown Corpus (Category: belles_lettres)Against Seebohm formidable foes have taken the field, notably F. W. Maitland, whose Domesday Book And Beyond was written expressly for this purpose, and Sir Paul Vinogradoff whose The Growth Of The Manor had a similar aim.
Source
NLTK Brown Corpus (Category: belles_lettres)By comparison, Stone Harbor bird sanctuary's allies seem less formidable, for aside from the Audubon Society, they are mostly the snowy, common and cattle egrets and the Louisiana, green, little blue and black-crowned herons who nest and feed there.
Source
NLTK Brown Corpus (Category: editorial)Again, India has imposed formidable barriers against the entrance of additional missionaries, and fanatical Hindu parties are expected to seek further action against Christians once the influence making for tolerance due to Nehru and his followers is gone.
Source
NLTK Brown Corpus (Category: religion)What formidable obstacle is she now to bring forward?
Source
austen-sense.txt (NLTK Gutenberg Corpus)Before the gates there sat On either side a formidable Shape.
Source
milton-paradise.txt (NLTK Gutenberg Corpus)If this is living in the country, it is nothing very formidable.
Source
austen-emma.txt (NLTK Gutenberg Corpus)I give you notice -- You will find me a formidable antagonist on that point.
Source
austen-emma.txt (NLTK Gutenberg Corpus)That is as formidable an image as you could present, Harriet; and if I thought I should ever be like Miss Bates!
Source
austen-emma.txt (NLTK Gutenberg Corpus)I believe there is no man, except the President, of course, who is so seriously startling and formidable as that little grinning fellow in goggles.
Source
chesterton-thursday.txt (NLTK Gutenberg Corpus)He took a childish pleasure, as a younger brother might, in the formidable sword - stick which Flambeau always flung as he walked, and which now stood upright beside his tall mug of Munich.
Source
chesterton-brown.txt (NLTK Gutenberg Corpus)Syme also strolled across to the table, and found lying across it a walking - stick, which turned out on examination to be a sword - stick, a large Colt's revolver, a sandwich case, and a formidable flask of brandy.
Source
chesterton-thursday.txt (NLTK Gutenberg Corpus)Above all, we must realize that no arsenal, or no weapon in the arsenals of the world, is so formidable as the will and moral courage of free men and women.
Source
1981 Inaugural AddressNever before have men tried so vast and formidable an experiment as that of administering the affairs of a continent under the forms of a Democratic republic.
Source
1905 Inaugural AddressI believe that many of the difficulties in the way, which now appear formidable, will in a great degree vanish as soon as the nearest and best route shall have been satisfactorily ascertained.
Source
1857 Inaugural AddressInvasions may be made too formidable to be resisted by any land and naval force which it would comport either with the principles of our Government or the circumstances of the United States to maintain.
Source
1817 Inaugural AddressBy making the President the sole distributer of all the patronage of the Government the framers of the Constitution do not appear to have anticipated at how short a period it would become a formidable instrument to control the free operations of the State governments.
Source
1841 Inaugural AddressWhen it was first perceived, in early times, that no middle course for America remained between unlimited submission to a foreign legislature and a total independence of its claims, men of reflection were less apprehensive of danger from the formidable power of fleets and armies they must determine to resist than from those contests and dissensions which would certainly arise concerning the forms of government to be instituted over the whole and over the parts of this extensive country.
Source
1797 Inaugural AddressOur challenges are formidable.
Source
1980 SOTU AddressThe competition they provide is formidable.
Source
1960 SOTU AddressOur formidable air striking forces are a powerful deterrent to general war.
Source
1959 SOTU AddressThese bills, added to the current costs of government we must meet, make a formidable burden.
Source
1953 SOTU AddressWe have shown that we can also be a formidable foe to those who reject the path of peace and those who seek to impose upon us or our allies the yoke of tyranny.
Source
1963 SOTU AddressFifth, to enhance the already formidable ability of the Marine Corps to respond to limited war emergencies, I am asking the Congress for 60 million dollars to increase the Marine Corps strength to 190,000 men.
Source
1961 SOTU AddressWith these formidable weapons, the adversaries of freedom plan to consolidate their territory -- to exploit, to control, and finally to destroy the hopes of the world's newest nations; and they have ambition to do it before the end of this decade.
Source
1961 SOTU AddressA coarse, formidable woman strode into the waiting room on spike heels.
Source
2 B R 0 2 B by Kurt VonnegutMiss Darcy and her brother appeared, and this formidable introduction took place.
Source
Pride and Prejudice by Jane AustenHe owed a good deal in town, but his debts of honour were still more formidable.
Source
Pride and Prejudice by Jane Austen
Tips for Using formidable in a Sentence
You may have an easier time writing sentences with formidable if you know what words are likely to come before or after it, or simply what words are often found in the same sentence.
Frequent Predecessors
Words that often come before formidable in sentences. For example: "a formidable" or "the formidable"
- a
- the
- most
- more
- and
- so
- this
- very
- less
- as
Frequent Successors
Words that often come after formidable in sentences. For example: "formidable ." or "formidable and"
- .
- and
- to
- task
- than
- in
- as
- enemy
- obstacle
- obstacles
Associated Words
Words that aren't necessarily predecessors or successors, but are often found in the same sentence.
- foe
- combatant
- adversary
- obstacle
- opponent
- obstacles
- barrier
- reputation
- warrior
- armour
Alternate Definitions
- formidable (adjective) - extremely impressive in strength or excellence
- formidable (adjective) - exciting fear or apprehension; impressing dread; adapted to excite fear and deter from approach, encounter, or undertaking; alarming