How To Use Formidable In A Sentence

The lower mandible, which is powerful, and is indented at its point to receive the hook, has a very sharp edge, which, with that of the upper mandible, constitutes a pair of formidable shears. Scientific American Supplement, No. 829, November 21, 1891
The best defensive spell available to a Sorceress is manifest in this formidable armor.
Armed with splinters of steel, two ant-sized men dare the formidable mysteries of a termitary. The Raid on the Termites
Today, because of that initial donation, we have been able to raise additional funding for the now formidable Salone Microfinance Trust to fund microcredits for over 7,000 Sierra Leonean women and men! Tiffany Persons: The Never-ending Story of One Donation
Fitch cautioned that the country's sovereign ratings remained constrained by relatively low levels of external liquidity as well as what it described as formidable social and structural challenges. ANC Daily News Briefing

During both the Vietnam War and the Persian Gulf War, the B - 52's internal stowage of eighty-four 500-pound bombs made it a formidable offensive weapon.
A formidable presence, not just because of her voice; but because of her lithe, sensual chassis; presented as it was with a faux ditziness. Martha Wainwright, Rufus, Marilyn and Kate.
Lastly, the hatred and contempt of the past two millennia add a formidable barrier to authentic communication.
His accomplishments were formidable during the first three decades of his reign.
Whether clipped into shape or left natural, barberry is a formidable barrier thanks to its dense foliage and profusion of thorns.
In her place is a formidable stateswoman. Times, Sunday Times
From this latter practice arose their name — CONDOTTIERI; a term formidable all over Italy, for a period, which concluded in the earlier part of the seventeenth century, but of which it is not so easy to ascertain the commencement. The Mysteries of Udolpho
She has a formidable list of qualifications.
The new range of computers have formidable processing power.
He would be, I don't want to use the word unstoppable but he would be formidable. CNN Transcript Jan 4, 2008
Four ships, including Dumanoirs Formidable sailed to windward of the British and exchanged shots with them as they passed, then sailed away from the battle.
A good head and a good heart are always a formidable combination.
I turned the empire from a weakened state to a formidable industrial powerhouse.
The West, from Rome to Britain, was called into action; the kings of Poland and Bohemia obeyed the summons of Conrad; and it is affirmed by the Greeks and Latins, that, in the passage of a strait or river, the Byzantine agents, after a tale of nine hundred thousand, desisted from the endless and formidable computation. The History of the Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire
REFERENCES: la pelouse (f) = grass; le gazon (m) = grass or lawn; Manou = endearment for the name Emmanuelle; for-mee-dah-bluh = formidable = great; gratter for it (Franglais) = scrape (save) or work for it Words in a French Life
Her secret, it seems, has been a confluence of business savvy and a folksy but formidable disarming charm. Times, Sunday Times
But that fusty image hides a formidable enterprise. Times, Sunday Times
He can roll or slice his backhand, hook his forehand short, or hit it with a mix of pace and top spin that is formidable.
He possessed formidable physical and mental energy, tremendous discipline.
This is a formidable new agenda to be imposed - and implemented within a very short time-scale - on top of the existing programme.
If it's our ewe your dog is savaging that setout man may be saving you $125 and my wife's formidable wrath.
One of these visitors was Johann Hummel, well known in his day as a formidable pianist outdone on the keyboard only by Beethoven himself.
The vessels of the Mangalore merchants came here to trade with the natives of this part of India for cargoes of spices, a fine kind of cloth called buckram and other valuable wares; but their vessels were frequently attacked, and too often pillaged by the pirates who infested these seas, and who were justly regarded as formidable enemies. Celebrated Travels and Travellers Part I. The Exploration of the World
In the "Carol of Occupations" occur, too, those formidable inventories of the more heavy and coarsegrained trades and tools that few if any readers have been able to stand before, and that have given the scoffers and caricaturists their favorite weapons. Birds and Poets : with Other Papers
He was a formidable athlete as well as a notable Westmorland cleric.
So, when my formidable granny asked me, from the other end of the table, to repeat my request, the entire family stared.
He met with a woman with a formidable appearance.
Despite his appearance, he was a formidable pilot who became an ace and earned the DFC.
She is truly formidable (in the French sense of the word), rather like one of those fantastic figureheads on a tall ship.
Here was hard, incontrovertible evidence of a ‘new and more formidable threat’.
The delay enabled the Japanese garrison of 19,000 troops to construct the most formidable beach defences, a way through which had to be cleared by underwater demolition teams.
If yesterday's purchase of shares is the precursor to a takeover bid, those qualities will make them formidable opponents for the Manchester United board.
The always reliable actress brings a flinty edge to the formidable Maggie.
This small journey seems quite a formidable expedition to me, and that sort of cowardly feeling of incapacity and disinclination for the smallest effort or unusual exertion is the growth of a two years 'habit over that of thirty preceding ones, and is a greater sign of age than white hairs, wrinkles, or loss of teeth. Further Records, 1848-1883: A Series of Letters
He brings neither huge experience nor formidable physical presence to the game, which England must win to restore some semblance of credibility. Times, Sunday Times
I get it, this other bloke is a formidable fighter. Jaime's Challenge
The clergy, by getting themselves established by law and ingrafted into the machine of government, have been a very formidable engine against the civil and religious rights of man. On Same-Sex Couples and Catfish Derbies
Setting out at dawn with a formidable supply of beer and rum, they would fish all day then return under moonlit skies to dine and drink jugs of Rioja wine in local Spanish restaurants.
As the Cold War dawned, American Communists, who were still a formidable force, sought a rebirth by christening themselves "Progressives," a moniker usurped from the reform movement of the Teddy Roosevelt era. Obama a 'Reaganite'? It Just Might Work
An army of stags led by a lion would be more formidable than one of lions led by a stag.
Despite this formidable reputation, it has lurked largely in the shadows in this country. Times, Sunday Times
had a formidable array of compositions to his credit
The partnership she has established with Ian Waite looks formidable and has impressed the panel of four judges.
She would prove herself a formidable adversary for Elizabeth. ELIZABETH AND MARY: Cousins, Rivals, Queens
Best days might be behind him but he is still a formidable attacking force. The Sun
He holds a formidable spell over Esperanza and controls her until she wises up and leaves him to pursue her career.
“The Clergy, by getting themselves established by law and ingrafted into the machine of government, have been a very formidable engine against the civil and religious rights of man.” — Think Progress » The Rightâ€™s New Strategy: Anti-Alito = Anti-God
But this past summer, the movement faced even more formidable organizing challenges within its own ranks.
While committed to the idea of refounding a genuine Communist Party in Australia, he latterly spent much of his formidable energy in his personal relationships and on his outstanding sporting abilities.
If the insurgency is trying to overthrow this regime, it is contending with a formidable obstacle that successful rebels of the 20th century generally did not face: A democratically elected government.
That is not to say that the English thegn was any less formidable than the Norman knight, as Hastings was to show.
A formidable array of investors and established tech giants is piling into the nascent online education sector. Times, Sunday Times
a boy, that diabolized my imagination, -- I mean, that gave me a distinct apprehension of a formidable bodily shape which prowled round the neighborhood where I was born and bred. Complete Project Gutenberg Oliver Wendell Holmes, Sr. Works
But despite being the third string at Selby, Charlie Booth's side have a formidable spirit of team-work and have beaten a number of higher ranked teams before.
Combining an innovative business model, a passion for social media, and a desire to deliver a flight of fabulous fancy each and every day, CEO Shauna Mei of AHAlife has turned a consumer's desire for high-touch, curatorial experiences into what's poised to be a formidable force in the luxury e-tailer space. Felicia C. Sullivan: Interview: Shauna Mei, CEO/Founder of AHAlife
The task ahead is formidable but unlikely to faze her.
The resource implications of a meaningful software acquisition programme are formidable.
The problem of educating the peripatetic children who lived on the canal boats was formidable.
The very men who deplored the fact were now ready to recognize a certain unanswerability which makes force so formidable a matter. BALANCE OF POWER
It was solid oak, hard and formidable, shining gloss in the dimly lit kitchen.
The banks remain formidable money-making machines. Times, Sunday Times
From Kamlot's description I visualized the basto as an enormous boar with horns, or a buffalo with the jaws and teeth of a carnivore, and judged that its twelve hundred pounds of weight would render it a most formidable beast. Pirates of Venus
Their formidable presence, clad in gray uniforms with epaulettes and badges, and the silence pervading their stares, shattered a comfort barrier that held my mind in check and kept others from noticing a sign of personal distress.
Formidable mammas kept a watch out for grooms with purses (over personality).
Glass's long-term collaborator Michael Riesman conducted with formidable precision. Philip Glass Ensemble: the Qatsi trilogy; BBCSO/Volkov; Melvyn Tan; T'ang Quartet; Bo Skovhus; Montreal SO/Nagano; Llyr William; Ten Plagues – review
He was a serious cricketer and table tennis player, and in his youth a formidable oarsman. Times, Sunday Times
The musician works alone behind the closed door and within formidable soundproof walls.
The wide estuary of the River Tay on the east coast of Scotland presented a formidable obstacle to transport.
Louis was a dreamer, idealistic and introspective; Zelie was more extroverted, possessed of formidable energy and strength of will. RIDDLE ME THIS
Though lame, he grows up strong and agile and a formidable bowman.
Although the media can be reluctant to analyse or even accept that its own role is any more than that of an objective observer, its networks are formidable.
Blacks, whites, shadows, glooms, and cobwebs are also used with formidable effect in the Satis House scenes in Great Expectations.
First, the British idler has a more formidable work culture to contend with.
KERRY: THE SUBSTANCEHe may have a reputation for being wooden and aloof, but Kerry is a formidable debater -- he was named class orator at Yale -- who has crushed opponents with his command of facts and his cool demeanor. At Last, The Two Shall Meet...Face To Face, Chin
The two players together make a formidable combination.
But it may well make the winner a more formidable opponent in the election itself. Times, Sunday Times
He did much to promote organ music, and his distinctive personality and formidable technique will be greatly missed at the consoles of the organ world. Times, Sunday Times
The unpredictable Missouri weather lived up to its formidable reputation as it blustered all week.
The formidable challenge for progressive bishops and theologians who dominated the Second Vatican Council was to formulate a compelling alternative.
The elderly are a formidable force in any election.
Its advantages are formidable: abundant cheap labor, millions of talented engineers, good infrastructure.
He was a formidable linguist, speaking 25 languages and many more dialects.
He remained a formidable opponent.
There are of course formidable difficulties to be overcome.
She positions herself as a formidable intellect, a woman who has passed the point where she worries about whether or not to tie her hair back. Times, Sunday Times
She returned to concertizing in 1966, but her performances from that time on were intermittent, although she acquired a reputation as a formidable chamber musician, and also as a teacher, most recently at the San Francisco Conservatory.
We thanked our formidable-looking friend for her company and, presenting her with a John o 'Groat's buckie, bade her farewell. From John O'Groats to Land's End
That is why Thomas Jefferson wrote: "The clergy, by getting themselves established by law and ingrafted into the machine of government, have been a very formidable engine against the civil and religious rights of man. Freemasonry: What's the Real Scoop?
No government can be long secure without a formidable opposition.
The Major later decided that such a formidable opponent must certainly be an officer, and christened him ‘Colonel Bogey,’ a term still heard today.
But his low centre of gravity, immense power and deceptive turn of pace meant that as a defender, he was a formidable beast. Times, Sunday Times
Rehnquist was a great scholar who possessed a formidable intellect.
She was once a political nonentity, but has since won a formidable reputation as a determined campaigner.
The stereochemistry of quinine is formidable: it has four chiral centres, and thus 16 stereoisomers - of which only one is the natural ingredient of cinchona bark.
He did much to promote organ music, and his distinctive personality and formidable technique will be greatly missed at the consoles of the organ world. Times, Sunday Times
At their most fully developed business information systems provide a formidable challenge to the creativity of archivists and historians alike.
Without her legal baggage, she would have been a formidable contender for the seat, which had been redistricted in the early 1990s.
Thomas Jefferson said: "The clergy, by getting themselves established by law and ingrafted into the machine of government, have been a very formidable engine against the civil and religious rights of man. Most of the Founding Fathers and Early Presidents Were Deists and Freemasons, Not Christians
The only notable place this foresight is applied in the U.S., as I see it, is for our formidable war machine. Mixed Conservation Message at cvillenews.com
Sharp, rocky eminences began to rise around them, and, in a short time, deep declivities and ascents, both formidable in height and difficult from the narrowness of the path, offered to the travellers obstacles of a different kind from those with which they had recently contended. The Talisman
There were some formidable brains in that tutor group. Times, Sunday Times
With a sprinkling of new players still bedding in, they looked ill at ease in the face of a familiar, and formidable, United side.
Yet they also led to formidable new problems in organization and management.
The final two bars, with their fermatas and sforzandos, are much more theatrical and formidable than Schubert's.
The head of the research section was a formidable old professor.
Beyond mere rhetoric, Church leaders have skillfully capitalized on their formidable influence in Catholic countries.
As often happens in such cases, the dangers incurred from the zeal of the local loyalist seem to have been much the most formidable of the perils of the hour. Maria Edgeworth
He delegated to junior ministers, but retained a formidable grasp of the policy details.
Yet behind the big beard and guitar riffs is a formidable brain. Times, Sunday Times
She now represents a highly mobile and formidable potential strike force, one of the most flexible fighting ships in the world. Times, Sunday Times
There the King learned that a formidable French fleet lay at anchor in the mouth of the Zwyn, guarding the approaches to Bruges.
She was once a political nonentity, but has since won a formidable reputation as a determined campaigner.
Badge of maturity, 12-tined antlers crown a lordly bull elk in Yellowstone; they serve also as formidable weapons.
Ultimately it was this haphazardness, a seemingly carefree approach to cutting-edge climbs, along with his formidable intellect and wit, which forged the Smith legend.
A girl from a poor worker's family is not as formidable a target for friendship as one from a revolutionary cadre's family like Lu.
This constraint would be formidable enough without the second challenge of having assumed office presented with a fait accompli.
That does not take anything away from the efforts of the French patriots who were actively involved in ousting the Germans from their country: The RÃ©sistance did not have planes, tanks, or high caliber machines guns like the formidable German army did. Think Progress » On Today Show, O’Reilly Compares Murtha With Hitler Sympathizers
'The noble sport', as Uncle Vernon called it, had made Dudley even more formidable than he had seemed to Harry in their primary school days when he had served as Dudley's first punchball. Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix
He was a four-square and formidable hero.
No lover of France certainly should die without having seen Carcassonne, foremost of what I will call the pictorial Quadrilateral, no formidable array after the manner of their Austrian cognominal, but lovely, dreamlike things. In the Heart of the Vosges And Other Sketches by a "Devious Traveller"
This elegant insect is a formidable greenfly guzzler and its larvae are particularly good at exterminating these ubiquitous pests.
But formidable capital cost stood in the way of such improvements, and irrigation remained no more than a theoretical possibility.
He has been caricatured, as a man more interested in country and western music than opera, and it is true that he has a formidable expertise in the area of popular music.
He combined outstanding intellectual ability with a vigorous, highly disciplined, and formidable personality.
His glossy technique as a straight jazz swinger is formidable.
(I consign to parentheses the equally problematic issue of race, although few readers familiar with Austen will want to ignore the near-hysterical irruption of "the slave-trade" into one of Jane Fairfax's earlier conversations [271], as if in compulsive, belated echo of the formidable subtext haunting Mansfield Park.) Saying What One Thinks: Emma--_Emma_--at Box Hill
This article's innovation lies in the computer formidable data-handling capacity application in the collapsing graduation research, making the management and use of the data more convenient.
For some, these may prove to be altogether more formidable adversaries.
In fact it's more than an improvement - it's absurdly beautiful - creamy pink beaches, noble mountains, formidable views, sweet-flowered machair grass, even the sheep are cool and relaxed.
Graham was himself a formidable "scrutinizer"; and, famously, a "strong resenter," with intermittent compulsion to test the indulgence of his friends. Our Man on Capri
The heroine, in a nice change of pace from the usual insecure whiner, is described by the mangaka herself as "invincible"--she is coolly confident in herself and her quite formidable powers. Manga Mondays with Kethylia 12/3 | Comics Should Be Good! @ Comic Book Resources
So destructive was Vabaza that detractors doubted Shabani's boxing ability and called on Vabaza to prove himself against a more formidable fighter.
Hauptmann was not merely a philologer, which is a formidable thing in itself, but he belonged to the esoteric group that deals with languages which have no literature. The Collectors
A good head and good heart are always a formidable combination. But when you add to that a literate tongue or pen, then you have something very special. Nelson Mandela
The two players together make a formidable combination.
The food is simple but good, usually a formidable steak from MacEwans Meats on 17th Avenue S.W., cooked by you to your liking and served with various nibbles from the Italian market.
Discipline is the soul of an army. It makes small numbers formidable; procures success to the weak, and esteem to all. George Washington
With such a formidable pack, introduce more 3rd row and forward play off line-outs, scrums and rucks and mauls.
He was a formidable linguist, speaking 25 languages and many more dialects.
Not that he was a formidable figure bestriding the political scene like a colossus.
the challenge was formidable
These awkward facts, combined with a formidable military capability, go a long way towards explaining the current colonialist adventurism.
The combination of the software of biological human intelligence with the benefits of non-biological intelligence will be very formidable.
This did not seem such a formidable task, although it was not until 1963 that Kenneth Hanson and I solved the historically important problem of the prochirality of citric acid7, which was necessary for me to gain a proper perspective on the aconitate hydratase reaction. Irwin Rose - Autobiography
Formidable programmers, these hackers produced and debugged computer code at an astonishing rate.
In this way blows can be made so formidable that with an ordinary malacca cane it is possible to sever a man's jugular vein through the collar of his overcoat.
He had improvised an intrenchment out of the table; and the man, who but an instant previously, had borne merely the appearance of a kindly old man, had suddenly become a sort of athlete, and placed his robust fist on the back of his chair, with a formidable and surprising gesture. Les Miserables
In the early 1990s, Karl Denson, a notable reedman who's worked with Jack DeJohnette, Dave Holland and Lenny Kravitz, co-founded the Greyboy Allstars, a formidable, still-active funk-jazz unit. An Infusion of Fusion to Start 2011
Thus, the obstacle facing the world in the Olympic baseball competition is a formidable one.
When I spoke to Huddleston he was full of praise for Shuker, whom he described as a formidable opponent and star of a future Labour government. Esther Rantzen and the battle for Luton
Human rights as an ideology is a potent mobiliser of support for imperialist interventions and, as mentioned, a formidable guarantor of legitimacy.
From Basle to Haguenau, the River Rhine acted as the frontier between Germany and France - and also as a very formidable defensive barrier.
She is also formidable as she bandies insults with an opposing QC or apologises sweetly to the judge. SEA MUSIC
The clergy, by getting themselves established by law and ingrafted into the machine of government, have been a very formidable engine against the civil and religious rights of man. What Jefferson would say about Huckabee
To her faithful eye were addressed those formidable quires which issued forth from Guy Mannering, Or, the Astrologer — Volume 01
He was also a formidable athlete, but above all a rock-like 'under-stander' in balances. Times, Sunday Times
He faced formidable foes and could count on few allies, at least for very long. Times, Sunday Times
The result is that between us George and I create a formidable dialectic; out of our dings and dongs there emerges, eventually, the noble synthesis of truth.
Because politicians do not court martyrdom, the intimidatory power of these lobbies is formidable. On Abortion: A Lincolnian Position
The speeches of Oliver Cromwell have a formidable reputation for prolixity, confusion, and excessive tediousness; yet we have not, for our own part, found these volumes to be of the dry and scarce readable description which their title foreboded; and we would caution others not to be deterred by any fears of this nature from their perusal. Blackwood's Edinburgh Magazine, Volume 61, No. 378, April, 1847
The comments engendered the first significant dent in the dollar's hitherto formidable momentum, as its trade-weighted index had climbed steadily to a 16-year high by early July.
The word Glasgow means Dear Green Place, but the grey Scottish sky adds gravity and seriousness to already formidable architecture.
When legislation touches freedom of thought and freedom of speech, such a tendency is a formidable enemy of the free spirit.
Another noxious insect, the smallest, but not the least formidable, was the sand-fly known in Canada by the name of the _brulot_. Narrative of a Journey to the Shores of the Polar Sea, in the Years 1819-20-21-22, Volume 1
His writings on language, particularly his universally acknowledged concept of ‘Newspeak’, are formidable weapons in our armoury against ruling class spin doctors.
He did, in fact, look every bit as formidable in his sleep as he did when awake.
The formidable royal castle towering above the Danube still breathes the air of this era.
And a formidable one at that – it's Hulk Hogan, who for two decades was the leading proponent of ripping flimsy T-shirts open, pretending to be deaf and flexing his saveloy-style arms in slow-motion to the sound of copyright-free hard rock music on VHS compilation tapes. Rosie O’Donnell Gets All Hubba Hubba Over Elisabeth Hasselbeck
These techniques now provide the analyst with a formidable armoury with which to attack the many scientific problems associated with art research.
Although the F - 14 Tomcat is relatively old, with the combination of both upgrades and its mix of weapons, it has kept its position as a formidable interceptor.
Lady Hester evidently came from Somerset, where she acquired a formidable reputation for breaking in the most vicious horses.
Something awesome, they thought, and formidable. Christianity Today
Author Nigel Rees brings to bear upon the strange and sometimes surprising world of the epitaph his formidable skills as an ‘archaeologist’ of the sources of quotation and phrases: each epitaph is explained and located, and its source and context described as fully as possible. Archive 2005-12-01
The terrorist sieges all round the industrial park, initiates a round firepower formidable fly upon, hits special police officers no place to hide to be on the verge of death.
Jean Brodie is the formidable and unconventional teacher in the prime of her life, working at a girls' school in the 1930s.
Back in the 1970s, when the Death of Equities was declared and top-quality U.S. stocks sold for similar valuations, the competition was formidable in the form of double-digit bond yields.
If the fences are not so formidable, the quality of the field is immeasurably improved. Times, Sunday Times
Her singles record makes her one of the most formidable players in any sport. Times, Sunday Times
Rehnquist was also a great scholar and a formidable intellect; no one insisted on this more forcefully than his political enemies.
I believe he would prove to be a formidable adversary.
It lets down the charm of their formidable buoyancy and their obvious talent for sonic collage; they're at their most interesting when revelling in bombastic beats and unexpected sounds.
On the Lower Madeira are the houseless, formidable Aráras, who paint their chins red with achote (anatto), and usually have a black tattooed streak on each side of the face. The Andes and the Amazon Across the Continent of South America
In some cases, the fans have been formidable and have outgunned the board in business experience or PR skills.
When it came to assembling facts and details, the system was a formidable obstacle.
With a nervous swallow he bearded the formidable-looking librarian behind the desk.
She was viewed as a formidable adversary and a staunch defender of the underprivileged. Times, Sunday Times
For cutting, excising, sewing, binding, applying putrefacient means to the anus, - all these appear to be very formidable things, and yet, after all, they are not attended with mischief. On Hemorrhoids
But no one since has taken on the formidable task of shaping a historical narrative out of the abundant prehistoric data now available for the Mediterranean. The Times Literary Supplement
Its president and provost, working through the campus chancellors and college deans, demonstrate a formidable commitment to make the faculty employment environment family friendly.
Learning any foreign language is a formidable intellectual exercise and valuable training for any young mind. Times, Sunday Times
He could have been faced with a far more formidable prospect. Times, Sunday Times
The furious energy of the film is formidable. Times, Sunday Times
Trembling with terror of this formidable freebooter (for he placed no belief in the declaration that he was the prince of Scotland), the man obeyed, and Bruce breaking the seals, found, as he expected, a long epistle from the regent, urging the sanguinary aim of his communications. The Scottish Chiefs
Illness, the impossible contradictions of illness, brainpower even dementing, you're formidable, that ruthless honesty, regressions... See me in the powerchair! Also postcards, packages, isolation and no GP
First a formidable cartel makes a tight combine and launches an advertisement blitz against the hapless rivals.

How To Use Formidable In A Sentence

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