Formidable — A Vocabulary Story
Anil and the Wall of Doom
At the leisure centre, past the swimming pool and the vending machine that ate coins, stood the climbing wall. It was enormous. It was grey. It had a sign that said FUN FOR ALL AGES, which Anil thought was a bold claim for something so formidable.
Formidable means inspiring fear or respect through strength.
"It's just a wall," said his big sister, Asha, halfway up already, moving formidably from one hold to the next like a spider in trainers.
"It's a wall with opinions," Anil muttered. "It's looking at me."
He clipped on his harness, gripped the first hold, and pulled. His arms wobbled like jelly at a birthday party. Two holds up, he stopped. The floor seemed very far away, and the top seemed to be somewhere near the moon.
"Small moves," called the instructor. "One hold at a time."
So Anil stopped staring at the whole formidable thing and stared at one blue hold instead. Then a yellow one. Then a red one shaped suspiciously like a potato. Hold by hold, potato by potato, the wall shrank underneath him.
When his fingers finally slapped the buzzer at the top, it made a triumphant honk. Asha cheered so loudly a lifeguard poked his head round the door.
Anil abseiled down, legs trembling, grin gigantic.
"Still formidable?" asked Asha.
Anil looked up at the wall, then wiggled his tired fingers at it.
"Oh, it is," he said. "But so am I. Same time next week, wall."
Word Definition
formidable
meaning
inspiring fear or respect through strength
synonyms
intimidating · daunting · powerful · scary · impressive
antonyms
weak · relaxing · unimpressive
example sentence
The formidable opponent made the team nervous.