Meaning
frightening, terrible, huge
- frightening, scary
- terrible, awful
- enormous, huge
In a sentence
Che film spaventoso hai visto ieri sera?
What scary movie did you watch last night?
Ho un mal di testa spaventoso oggi.
I have a terrible headache today.
C'è stato un traffico spaventoso in centro.
There was terrible traffic downtown.
Word forms (4)
| Word | Word forms |
|---|---|
| spaventoso | masculine · singular |
| spaventosa | feminine · singular |
| spaventosi | masculine · plural |
| spaventose | feminine · plural |
Usage notes
- Use spaventoso for something that causes fear or feels shockingly bad; for simple ugliness or disgust, orribile is often more natural.
- It also works as an intensifier in speech: un caldo spaventoso, una fame spaventosa. This use is informal but very common.
- It agrees in gender and number: spaventoso, spaventosa, spaventosi, spaventose.