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spaventoso

frightening

adjective spah-ven-TOH-zoh Rare
Descriptions & Qualities Quality

Also means

terrible

Usage Note

Spaventoso can express genuine fear ('a frightening storm') or colloquial hyperbole ('una quantità spaventosa' = a frightening/enormous amount). In informal speech it has weakened toward a general intensifier much like English 'terrible' or 'awful', so context determines whether fear is literal. The feminine form is spaventosa.

Examples

"Ha fatto un rumore spaventoso."

Natural Translation

It made a frightening noise.

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