From Longman Dictionary of Contemporary Englishformidablefor‧mi‧da‧ble /ˈfɔːmədəbəl, fəˈmɪd- $ ˈfɔːr-/ ●○○ adjective 1 POWERvery powerful or impressive, and often frightening The building is grey, formidable, not at all picturesque. The new range of computers have formidable processing power.2 DIFFICULTdifficult to deal with and needing a lot of effort or skillformidable task/challenge the formidable task of local government reorganization —formidably adverb
Examples from the Corpus
formidable• The resource implications of a meaningful software acquisition programme are formidable.• A coalition of the young and old might, from even the most tentative beginnings, grow into a formidable force.• Thereafter it evolved rapidly into a formidable force.• Russia still has a formidable nuclear arsenal.• The team faces some formidable opponents in the next week.• Like her husband, she has formidable political skills and impressive recuperative powers.• Sheltering the village with is impressive yet formidable presence is the north face of the Eiger.• But modern publishers knew they needed a very formidable, sure-selling author to make the installment plan succeed.• They face the formidable task of working out a peace plan.formidable task/challenge• A distillation of the riches of the existing law would be a most formidable task.• As with care within the household, the provision of care from outside can be a formidable task.• How to tantalize our lower-middle-class students was a formidable task.• The new managers obviously had their work cut out for them: learning how to be a manager was a formidable task.• Working out an effective strategy to control it rather than let it control us is a formidable challenge.• Chess posed a formidable challenge for computer scientists.• The formidable challenge for progressive bishops and theologians who dominated the Second Vatican Council was to formulate a compelling alternative.• All this proved a formidable challenge to our sweeper, a delightful Rajasthani lady named Murti.Origin formidable (1300-1400) Latin formidabilis, from formido “fear” 