wonderful

W4O1N1D2E1R1F4U1L1
UK/ˈwʌndəfl̩/Canada, US/ˈwʌndɚfl̩/Australia, New Zealand/ˈwɐndəfl̩/Northern England/ˈwʊndəfl̩/

adjective

Tending to excite wonder; surprising, extraordinary.

“They served a wonderful six-course meal.”

Very commonScrabble 16

Meanings

adjectivewonderful (comparative wonderfuller or wonderfuler or more wonderful, superlative wonderfullest or wonderfulest or most wonderful)

comparative wonderfuller · comparative wonderfuler · comparative more wonderful · superlative wonderfullest · superlative wonderfulest · superlative most wonderful · alternative wonderfool · alternative woonderful · alternative wonderfull · alternative wondreful · alternative wondrefull · alternative 1drfl · alternative 1derful

  1. Tending to excite wonder; surprising, extraordinary.

    His delusion was not wonderful, but most natural.

    4 more examples

    It is not wonderful that Mrs Smith declined to visit the beer garden, in view of her militant temperance. [=It is no wonder that she declined.]

    'Ha!' cried Dangerfield, with a sort of gasp, and a violent smirk, the joyousness of which was, however, counteracted by a lurid scowl and a wonderful livid glare in his wild eyes; […]

    1863, Sheridan Le Fanu, The House by the Churchyard

    The difference in the circumstances of the kingdom at the two dates might fairly account for the change of policy in regard to the Solway. In 1563 the two countries were held by distinct and hostile governments, and it was not wonderful that the debateable ground of the Solway should be exempted from restrictions which could not be enforced over its whole surface, and which, if enforced on the Scotch side only, would be certainly broken through by the English marauders. In 1685, however, both kingdoms were ruled over by one sovereign; a more amicable policy had, since the accession of James I., been adopted in legislation; and it might therefore be supposed that the exception in favour of the Solway had lapsed by implication, and that the fisheries of all parts of the kingdom were thenceforward to be governed by uniform statutory regulations.

    1892, Charles Stewart, edited by John Campbell Shairp, A Treatise on the Law of Scotland Relating to Rights of Fishing: Comprising the Law Affecting Sea Fishing, Salmon Fishing, Trout Fishing, Oyster and Mussel Fishing, Etc. With an Appendix of Statutes and Bye-laws, 2nd edition, T. & T. Clark, pages 343-344

    He is massively corrupt. It is wonderful how the man's popularity survives.

    1992, Hilary Mantel, A Place of Greater Safety, Harper Perennial, published 2007, page 278

    Synonyms: wondrous, amazing, astonishing, marvelous, awesome, amazing, astounding, awe-inspiring · Antonyms: unsurprising, unremarkable, common

  2. Surprisingly excellent; very good or admirable, extremely impressive.

    They served a wonderful six-course meal.

    2 more examples

    What appears to be wonderful may turn out to be anything but.

    Though they obviously realized that these episodes were part of something wonderful and important and lasting, the writers and producers couldn’t have imagined that 20 years later “Treehouse Of Horror” wouldn’t just survive; it’d thrive as one of the most talked-about and watched episodes of every season of The Simpsons.

    2012 April 29, Nathan Rabin, “TV: Review: THE SIMPSONS (CLASSIC): “Treehouse of Horror III” (season 4, episode 5; originally aired 10/29/1992)”, in (Please provide the book title or journal name)

    Synonyms: great, amazing, marvelous, fantastic, awesome, terrific, ace, admirable · Antonyms: terrible, horrible, horrific

adverbwonderful (not comparable)

alternative wonderfool · alternative woonderful · alternative wonderfull · alternative wondreful · alternative wondrefull · alternative 1drfl · alternative 1derful

  1. dialectalnot comparableExceedingly, to a great extent.

    It was wonderful stormy weather that night, and it so befell that there was sailing by the Jutland coast a little north of the east mouth of the Limfirth a man of Iceland bound south […]

    1926, Eric Rücker Eddison, Styrbiorn the Strong, page 196
    1 more example

    […] wherein they were no sooner entered, but they saw that it was wonderful dark, and it seemed unto them that it should be a very large hall, and there they heard very fearful howlings, as though there had been a legion of hell-hounds […]

    1808, Richard Johnson, The famous Historie of the Seaven Champions of Christendome, page 267

    Synonyms: wonderfully, wondrously

Synonyms & antonyms

adverbExceedingly, to a great extent.

More synonyms by meaning

adjectiveextraordinarily good or great; used especially as intensifiers

Synonym sets from Open English WordNet, CC BY 4.0.

Origin

  1. Proto-West Germanic*wundrafull
  2. Old Englishwundorful“wonderful”
  3. Middle Englishwonderful
  4. Englishwonderful

From Middle English wonderful, wondirful, from Old English wundorful (“wonderful”), from Proto-West Germanic *wundrafull, equivalent to wonder + -ful. Cognate Dutch wondervol (“wonderful”), German wundervoll (“wonderful”). Compare Old English wuldorfull (“glorious”).

Full word history & related roots →

Translations

Ancient Greek θαυμάσιος
  • θαυμάσιος (thaumásios)excellent, extremely impressive
Arabic عَجِيب
  • عَجِيب (ʕajīb)excellent, extremely impressive
Bulgarian чуде́сен, надут
  • чуде́сен (čudésen)excellent, extremely impressive
  • надут (nadut)excellent, extremely impressive
  • удиви́телен (udivítelen)excellent, extremely impressive
  • важничещ (važničešt)excellent, extremely impressive
Catalan meravellós
  • meravellósexcellent, extremely impressive
Chinese Mandarin 棒, 奇妙
  • 棒 (bàng)excellent, extremely impressive
  • 奇妙 (qímiào)excellent, extremely impressive
Czech skvělý, báječný
  • skvělýexcellent, extremely impressive
  • báječnýexcellent, extremely impressive
Danish vidunderlig
  • vidunderligexcellent, extremely impressive
Dutch fantastisch, heerlijk
  • fantastischexcellent, extremely impressive
  • heerlijkexcellent, extremely impressive
  • wonderbaarexcellent, extremely impressive
Esperanto mirinda
  • mirindaexcellent, extremely impressive
Estonian imeline
  • imelineexcellent, extremely impressive
Finnish hieno, mainio
  • hienoexcellent, extremely impressive
  • mainioexcellent, extremely impressive
  • loistavaexcellent, extremely impressive
  • ihanaexcellent, extremely impressive
  • ihmeellinenexcellent, extremely impressive
French merveilleux
  • merveilleuxexcellent, extremely impressive
German wunderbar, wundervoll
  • wunderbarexcellent, extremely impressive
  • wundervollexcellent, extremely impressive
  • eitelexcellent, extremely impressive
  • hochtrabendexcellent, extremely impressive
  • wichtigtuerischexcellent, extremely impressive
Greek θαυμάσιος, εκπληκτικός
  • θαυμάσιος (thavmásios)excellent, extremely impressive
  • εκπληκτικός (ekpliktikós)excellent, extremely impressive
  • υπέροχος (ypérochos)excellent, extremely impressive
  • έξοχος (éxochos)excellent, extremely impressive
  • καταπληκτικός (katapliktikós)excellent, extremely impressive
Hebrew נפלא
  • נפלא (niflá)excellent, extremely impressive
Hindi अद्भुत, कमाल
  • अद्भुत (adbhut)excellent, extremely impressive
  • कमाल (kamāl)excellent, extremely impressive
Hungarian csodálatos
  • csodálatosexcellent, extremely impressive
Icelandic yndislegur, dásamlegur
  • yndislegurexcellent, extremely impressive
  • dásamlegurexcellent, extremely impressive
  • undursamlegurexcellent, extremely impressive
Irish iontach
  • iontachexcellent, extremely impressive
Italian meraviglioso, stupendo
  • meravigliosoexcellent, extremely impressive
  • stupendoexcellent, extremely impressive
  • fantasticoexcellent, extremely impressive
  • splendidoexcellent, extremely impressive
  • eccellenteexcellent, extremely impressive
  • impressionanteexcellent, extremely impressive
  • ottimoexcellent, extremely impressive
  • favolosoexcellent, extremely impressive
Japanese 素晴しい
  • 素晴しい (subarashii)excellent, extremely impressive
Korean 놀라운
  • 놀라운 (nollaun)excellent, extremely impressive
Latin mirābilis, mīrus
  • mirābilisexcellent, extremely impressive
  • mīrusexcellent, extremely impressive
Latvian brīnišķīgs
  • brīnišķīgsexcellent, extremely impressive
Norwegian underfull
  • underfullexcellent, extremely impressive
Norwegian Bokmål vidunderlig, høyttravende
  • vidunderligexcellent, extremely impressive
  • høyttravendeexcellent, extremely impressive
  • oppstyltetexcellent, extremely impressive
  • svulstigexcellent, extremely impressive
Persian شگفت, شگرف
  • شگفت (šegaft)excellent, extremely impressive
  • شگرف (šegarf)excellent, extremely impressive
Polish cudowny, zdumiewający
  • cudownyexcellent, extremely impressive
  • zdumiewającyexcellent, extremely impressive
  • zadziwiającyexcellent, extremely impressive
Portuguese maravilhoso
  • maravilhosoexcellent, extremely impressive
Russian замеча́тельный, чуде́сный
  • замеча́тельный (zamečátelʹnyj)excellent, extremely impressive
  • чуде́сный (čudésnyj)excellent, extremely impressive
  • восхити́тельный (vosxitítelʹnyj)excellent, extremely impressive
Scottish Gaelic mìorbhaileach
  • mìorbhaileachexcellent, extremely impressive
Slovak úžasný
  • úžasnýexcellent, extremely impressive
Swedish underbar
  • underbarexcellent, extremely impressive
Turkish harika
  • harikaexcellent, extremely impressive
Ukrainian вражаючий, чудовий
  • вражаючий (vražajučyj)excellent, extremely impressive
  • чудовий (čudovyj)excellent, extremely impressive

Rhymes & wordplay

Anagrams

Cite this entry
APA

wonderful. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 4, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/wonderful

MLA

“wonderful.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/wonderful. Accessed November 4, 2026.

Chicago

WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “wonderful,” accessed November 4, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/wonderful.

Source: wonderful on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.