Formidable -- A Force to Be Reckoned With

Formidable -- there's a term that carries some gravitas. Not a term to use lightly and not a descriptive you hear pinned to the average joe or jane. It's reserved for people like Bea Arthur, the actress who played TV's tough broad Maude in a popular sit-com of the 1970s. Several of the articles about her death last week employed the term formidable about her presence, about the characters she played, about her voice. "Tall and formidable, with that deep voice, Bea Arthur was a star for all the reasons that women aren't stars on TV," said a Washington Post writer.

Or like Britain's former prime minister, who was profiled in London's Daily Telegraph on Saturday under the headline: "Margaret Thatcher: Formidable, Determined, Kittenish, Kind." I wonder which reaction that headline evinced from "the Iron Lady," a smile or a roll of her eyes?

A cursory scan of recent news reveals that formidable turns up more frequently in the sports section than in entertainment or daily news. That's because it's most commonly used to describe a tough or fearsome opponent or situation, like a particularly challenging game.

Formidable has become something of a compliment, albeit a nuanced one. Interesting since the term's original meaning and its Latin root formidare mean "fear." Formidable's principal definition in many dictionaries is a variation on "inspiring dread." I'm sure that seeing a 6-foot, 250-lb. linebacker steaming toward you, ready to pound your helmet into the mud, probably inspires a certain amount of dread in many a freshman recruit. But for all that Arthur's character Maude occasionally made her TV hubby quaver and perhaps Thatcher had some British parliamentarians quaking in their brogues, it seems a little ludicrous to think of these ladies as menacing, terrifying figures.

Formidable has evolved through the years from its roots in fear to emphasizing the sense of admiration and respect that frightful and powerful -- or just powerful -- entities can evoke. You can use the term to convey dread or apprehension -- Rocky faced a formidable foe in Mr. T's "Clubber" Lang -- or respect -- see the references to Bea Arthur above -- and not infrequently both at the same time. E.g., Everest offers a formidable challenge to mountain climbers. Julius Caesar proved to be both a formidable military tactician and politician. In that way, I suppose it's no surprise that a tough, no-nonsense woman who takes charge and brooks no guff from anyone could find herself tagged with formidable in profiles and obits. I expect that a search of the reams of coverage of Hillary Clinton would turn up more than a few instances of the word. Whether you think that it evokes more respect or fear in her case -- well, formidableness is in the eye of the beholder.

Dictionary Definitions
The New Oxford American Dictionary says: "inspiring fear or respect through being impressively large, powerful, intense, or capable."

The American Heritage Dictionary gives: "1. Arousing fear, dread, or alarm: the formidable prospect of major surgery. 2. Inspiring awe, admiration, or wonder: "Though a true hero, he was also a thoroughgoing bureaucrat and politician, a formidable combination" (Mario Puzo). 3. Difficult to undertake, surmount, or defeat: a formidable challenge; a formidable opponent.

The OED seems to resist the evolution of the term's meaning toward conveying admiration. It says, "That which gives cause for fear or alarm; fit to inspire dread or apprehension. Now usually (with some obscuration of the etymological sense): Likely to be difficult to overcome, resist, or deal with; giving cause for serious apprehension of defeat or failure."