Word
whopping
Phoneticswhop·ping
US/ˈhwɑpɪŋ/
UK/wˈɒpɪŋ/
Definition
adj. used to describe something that is surprisingly large or impressive. It is a casual word you use to emphasize a big number or amount.
adj. extremely large or significant, typically used to emphasise a quantity or amount. Almost exclusively used attributively before a number or a noun phrase of quantity.
Examples
“The company reported a whopping profit of ten billion dollars.”
“After the holiday sale, the store manager was surprised to see a whopping fifty percent increase in foot traffic.”
“Despite the initial skepticism of the board, the marketing campaign resulted in a whopping surge of new subscribers that exceeded all quarterly projections.”
Examples
simple
“The company reported a whopping profit of ten billion dollars.”
contextual
“After the holiday sale, the store manager was surprised to see a whopping fifty percent increase in foot traffic.”
complex
“Despite the initial skepticism of the board, the marketing campaign resulted in a whopping surge of new subscribers that exceeded all quarterly projections.”
Usage
Typically used attributively before a noun or number to provide emphasis; rarely used predicatively after a linking verb.
Real-World Examples
“That number rose to 5,000 by July 1849, and to a whopping 25,000 by December 1849.” “In Europe on average, petrol prices have risen by 8.8 percent over the last six weeks, while in Spain they’ve risen a whopping 18.4 percent.” Etymology
whop (verb) + -ing.
Etymology adapted from Wiktionary, available under CC BY-SA 4.0.
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englishreference.com/q/whopping