monster

Etymology

From Middle English monstre, from Old French monstre, mostre, moustre, from Latin mōnstrum.

noun

1. (informal, childish) A terrifying and dangerous creature.
2. (informal, childish) A bizarre or whimsical creature.
   The children decided Grover was a cuddly monster.
3. A cruel, heartless, or antisocial person, especially a criminal.
   Get away from those children, you monster!
   My young children leave their art everywhere. I find most of it on the floor. […] Eventually, I started throwing it all away. Perhaps I am a monster. 2018-09-16, Mary Townsend, “Throw Your Children’s Art Away”, in The Atlantic, retrieved 2022-12-19
   "Because of this monster, Jayme won't have her mom and dad at her dance recitals," Mike Closs, Jayme's uncle, said in court. Closs' aunt Jennifer Smith said the family was satisfied with the sentence and knew it would give Jayme peace. May 24, 2019, Joey Peters, “'Embodiment of evil': Jayme Closs kidnapper sentenced to die in prison”, in The Guardian
4. (medicine, archaic) A severely deformed person.
   Deducting then these cases, we have a large proportion of imperfect foetuses, which belonged to twin conceptions, and in which, therefore, the circulation of the monster may have essentially depended on that of the sound child. 1837, Medico-Chirurgical Review, page 465
5. (figurative) A badly behaved child, a brat.
   Sit still, you little monster!
6. (informal) Something unusually large.
   Have you seen those powerlifters on TV? They're monsters.
   Although she, for many years had waged continual war against rheumatism, her pleasant face shone like the full moon from under the white head-gear, while she had protected herself against any possible attack of the enemy by a multiplicity of petticoats and jackets; and as an outer fortification she had put on a monster of a frieze cloak. 1886, Peter Christen Asbjørnsen, translated by H.L. Brækstad, Folk and Fairy Tales, page 250
   Ashley: Look at the size of that ship! Kaidan: The Ascension. Flagship of the Citadel fleet. Joker: Well, size isn't everything. Ashley: Why so touchy, Joker? Joker: I'm just saying you need firepower, too. Ashley: Look at that monster! It's main gun could rip through the barriers on any ship in the Alliance fleet. 2008, BioWare, Mass Effect (Science Fiction), Redwood City: Electronic Arts, →OCLC, PC, scene: Bridge, Command Deck, SSV Normandy
7. (informal) A prodigy; someone very talented in a specific domain.
   That dude playing guitar is a monster.
   He was a party monster. Able to drink and drug just about any member of the Fleetwood Mac family under the table, he did so with regularity and charm. 2009, Carol Ann Harris, Storms: My Life with Lindsey Buckingham and Fleetwood Mac, page 216
8. (gaming) A non-player character that player(s) fight against in role-playing games.

adj

1. (informal) Very large; worthy of a monster.
   He has a monster appetite.
   I turned to Jack and said, "It's supposed to be monster." 2004, Rex Pickett, Sideways, page 55
   How do you get more monster than a monster truck? You build a monster tank. 2009, Michael O'Hearn, The Kids' Guide to Monster Trucks
2. (informal) Great; very good; excellent.
   “You did great today,” I told Josh. “You were monster.” “yeah,” he said. “I was monster. Thank you, Charlie.” 2010, Andrew Klavan, The Long Way Home, page 231

verb

1. (transitive) To make into a monster; to categorise as a monster; to demonise.
   Animals in our world have been monstered by human action as much as the free beasts of the pre-lapsarian state were monstered by the primal crime. 1968, Robert Lowell, Robert Lowell: A Collection of Critical Essays, page 145
   A Tale of Two Cities and Great Expectations feature four cases of women monstered by passion. Madame Defarge is ‘a tigress’, Mrs Joe a virago, Molly (Estella′s criminal mother) ‘a wild beast tamed’ and Miss Havisham a witch-like creature, a ghastly combination of waxwork and skeleton. 1983, Michael Slater, Dickens and Women, page 290
   The community forgives: this is in deep contrast to offenders that emerge from prison and remain stigmatised and monstered, often unable to get work or housing. 2005, Diana Medlicott, “The Unbearable Brutality of Being: Casual Cruelty in Prison and What This Tells Us About Who We Really Are”, in Margaret Sönser Breen, editor, Minding Evil: Explorations of Human Iniquity, page 82
   Demonizing or monstering other groups has even become part of the cycle of American politics. 2011, Stephen T. Asma, On Monsters: An Unnatural History of Our Worst Fears, page 234
2. (intransitive) To behave as a monster to; to terrorise.
   In 2002, American interrogators on the ground in Afghanistan developed a technique they called “monstering.” The commander “instituted a new rule that a prisoner could be kept awake and in the booth for as long as an interrogator could last.” One “monstering” interrogator engaged in this for thirty hours.¹⁷⁷ 2009, Darius Rejali, Torture and Democracy, page 292
   The interrogators asked members of the 377th Military Police Company to help them with monstering, and the MPs complied. 2010, Joshua E. S. Phillips, None of Us Were Like This Before: American Soldiers and Torture, page 39
3. (chiefly Australia) To harass.
   Andy Roddick has been monstered by both Federer and Nadal and suffered a 6-2 7-5 7-5 semi-final loss at the hands of the Swiss champion. January 31, 2009, Leo Schlink, “Match looms as final for the ages”, in Herald Sun, archived from the original on 2009-02-02
4. (UK, live action roleplaying games) To play (a series of) non-player characters as directed, without having the responsibility of organising the game itself; generally not limited to playing literal monsters or hostile combatants.
   Are you monstering that event?