colossal

将“colossal”分解为“col”和“ossal”。首先，“col”让人联想到“colorful”（多彩的），意味着这个形容词有“大量”或“丰富”的含义。然后，“ossal”则像是“ossal”音节，可以想象它像是“colorful”的放大版，因此“colossal”可以记忆为极其巨大或庞大的意思。

colossal 巨大的

来自colossus, 巨型雕像。

colossal

colossal: [18] Colossal comes ultimately from Greek kolossós, a word of unknown origin which was first used by the historian Herodotus as a name for certain gigantic statues in Egypt. It became much better known, of course, when applied to the Colossus of Rhodes, a 36-metrehigh statue of Apollo that stood at the entrance to Rhodes harbour, built around 280 BC. Various adjectives meaning ‘huge’ have since been derived from it: Latin had colossēus and colossicus, and in the 17th century English tried colossean and colossic, but in the 18th century the choice fell on colossal, borrowed from French.

The amphitheatre built in Rome by Vespasian and Titus around 80–75 BC was named Colossēum after its great size.

colossal (adj.)

1712 (colossic in the same sense is recorded from c. 1600), from French colossal, from colosse, from Latin colossus, from Greek kolossos (see colossus).

1. The singer earns a colossal amount of money.

那歌手现在可赚大钱了。

2. Some of the tall buildings in that city are colossal.

那座城市里的高层建筑很庞大.

3. Even by modern standards, the 46, 000 ton Titanic was a colossal ship.

即使按照现代的标准看, 那46, 000吨的泰坦斯尼克号也是一艘巨轮.

4. But just before the competition closed, a lorry arrived at the factory with a truly colossal biscuit which weighed 2400 pounds.

但是竞赛赐要结束, 一辆卡车来到了工厂,带来一块真正巨大的饼干,它的重量是2400磅.

5. Plagues aside, many critics see xenotransplantation as a colossal waste of resources.

除了疫病外, 许多批评家把异种移植看作是资源的巨大浪费.

【tremendous, colossal, huge, gigantic, massive, vast, enormous, immense, giant】
这组词都有“巨大的，庞大的”的意思，其区别是：
tremendous: 指某物很大，大得惊人；也可用作引申意义。
colossal: 侧重尺寸、规模和体积的无比巨大。
huge: 含义广，强调体积或容积的庞大。也可用于引申意义。
gigantic: 指面积或体积的巨大，但多用于引申意义。
massive: 指大的体积、数量和重量，侧重庞大而笨重。
vast: 多指空间、面积、范围的巨大，不涉及重量。
enormous: 指体积、数量或程度远远超过一般标准。
immense: 正式用词，侧重空间的广阔，也指面积或分量的巨大。
giant: 非正式用词，多为褒义。指如巨人般的庞大体积。