mondo1

[mon-doh] /mɒnˈdoʊ/
noun, plural mondos. Zen.
1.
a question to a student for which an immediate answer is demanded, the spontaneity of which is often illuminating.
Compare koan.
Origin
1925-30; < Japanese mondō, earlier mondau < Middle Chinese, equivalent to Chinese wèn inquire + dá reply

mondo2

adverb
1.
very; extremely:
mondo cool.
adjective
2.
large; big:
a mondo history paper.
Origin
< Italian mondo world, extracted from the film Mondo Cane (1961) and reinterpreted as an adv. in Italian or pseudo-Italian phrases such as mondo bizarro very bizarre, literally, bizarre world
Examples from the web for mondo
  • They are hesitant to follow orders from mondo, but they oblige when they are threatened.
  • mondo croquet mondo croquet is just like regular croquet only much bigger.
Word Origin and History for mondo
adj.

"very much, extreme," 1979, from Italian mondo "world," from "Mondo cane," 1961 film, literally "world for a dog" (English title "A Dog's Life"), depicting eccentric human behavior; the word was abstracted from the original title and taken as an intensifier.

Slang definitions & phrases for mondo

mondo

adjective

Very large or very much; humongous, important: She had a lot of things on her desk top, including a mondo-size slo-mo printer/ I've got a mongo bruise on my leg from field hockey/ You'd think it took some kind of miracle, or some mondo engineering breakthrough

adverb

Very; totally; fully, way: Your dad is mondo cool!/ mondo fun at the beach

[1979+; fr Italian mondo, ''world''; the mongo variant is probably just imitative]