A complete, filterable list of 121+ English words ending in -OUS — with definitions, word types, and difficulty ratings.
The "-ous" suffix is heavily Latin in origin and appears across the entire vocabulary of formal English. "Obvious" (in the way), "furious" (full of fury), "gorgeous" (beautiful), "enormous" (out of the norm) — the suffix marks adjectives of quality or relationship. Because so many "-ous" words come through French, they tend to feel slightly more formal or elevated than plain Anglo-Saxon alternatives.
Part of speech: Adjectives meaning "having the quality of," "full of," or "relating to" the base. Most entered English through Latin and French (famous, glorious, nervous, tremendous).
In competitive word play, "-OUS" adjectives often have high-value tiles (U, O) and can reach bonus squares easily. "Luxurious," "hazardous," and "outrageous" are examples worth memorising.
This list includes 121 English words ending in -ous, drawn from a curated dictionary of 10,000+ words spanning everyday vocabulary, academic terms, and word-game forms. The count focuses on base forms; inflected variants (e.g. plurals or conjugations) are counted separately.
Common examples from this list include: Previous, Serio. Use the difficulty filter above to browse easy, medium, or hard words separately.
Adjectives meaning "having the quality of," "full of," or "relating to" the base. Most entered English through Latin and French (famous, glorious, nervous, tremendous). Use the "Type" filter above to narrow the list to nouns, verbs, adjectives, or adverbs specifically.
Most standard words on this list are accepted in major Scrabble dictionaries (TWL, SOWPODS). Some hard-difficulty words are archaic, borrowed, or dialect forms whose validity can vary between rulesets — always verify against the official word list for your competition or app.