These words refer to anything that is extremely great in size, scope, scale, intensity or importance. Tremendous not only suggests something extraordinarily large or vast but something that is unusual, striking or astonishing in its magnitude: a tremendous skyscraper; issues of tremendous consequence for every citizen. The word is often used loosely as a hyperbole for anything one thinks of as interesting or pleasant: a tremendous party. Prodigious can refer to sheer size, but more particularly it suggests anything that is preternatural to the extent of being a prodigy or marvel; it also can be used vaguely in hyperbole: a basketball player of prodigious height; a prodigious blow to the economy. The word may refer also to something achieved with effort, or to precocious development: a prodigious space-age triumph; the boy’s prodigious ability at working differential equations. Stupendous could once refer to any phenomenon that staggered the mind, but it has suffered more from excessive use than the previous pair and now may seem mere overstatement: a stupendous film.

Colossal and titanic both derive from references to large bodies. Colossal comes from the Colossus of Rhodes, a huge statue that was one of the wonders of the ancient world. Titanic refers back to the Titans, a race of giants in Greek mythology. Some echo of these origins remains in that colossal may stress monumentality, while titanic may stress force and power: a colossal façade of windows blocking the sky; a titanic effort to arm the nation following the sneak attack. Both are over-used as hyperboles. Like the previous pair, herculean has a classical origin, referring back to the hero Hercules. The world suffers less from loss of meaning through over-use, however, and can still refer not only to a powerfully built man, but to selfless labour dedicated to accomplishing seemingly insuperable tasks; this shade of meaning is also a reference to the prodigious feats of Hercules: herculean athletes; the herculean job of combating the upsurge of crime in recent times.

Thumping and whopping have a colourful, informal or slangy sound that saves them from the grey vagueness to which some of these words have been reduced through over-use. Thumping hints at the physical sound that a large or plump object might give off or, less concretely, suggests ripeness, health or perfection: a thumping ten-pound baby. Whopping may deliberately suggest an awareness of overstatement in someone else’s hyperboles or outright lies, as in a tall tale: a whopping excuse for being late; a whopping lie. In a more general way it can refer to anything that seems forceful or decisive: a whopping landslide election victory over his opponent.