formidable

[Fr., from Lat. form i dab i lis, from formido (v.)=to fear, dread, (s.), fear, dread.] Causing or calculated to cause fear or dread; terrible, dreadful, fearful, deterrent. "But it was well known that he could be as useful a friend and as formidable an enemy as any member of the cabinet." -Macaulay : Hist . Eng . , ch. xiii. Crabb thus discriminates between formidable , dreadful , terrible , and shocking : " Formidable is applied to that which is apt to excite fear; dread ful is applied to what is calculated to excite dread; terrible is applied to that which excites terror; shocking , from shake , is applied to that which violently shakes or agitates. The formidable acts neither suddenly nor violently; the dreadful may act violently, but not suddenly; thus the appearance of an army may be formidable ; that of a field of battle is dreadful . The terrible and shocking act both suddenly and violently; but the former acts both on the senses and the imagination, the latter on the moral feelings." (Crabb: Eng. Synon .)