Towering, a.
1. Very high; elevated; rising aloft; as, a towering height. Pope.
2. Hence, extreme; violent; surpassing. A man agitated by a towering passion. Sir W. Scott.
Shades of meaning
Fernald has no entry of its own for towering; he lists it under high.
Where he writes about it:
Towering, in the literal sense compares with lofty and majestic; but in the figurative sense, its use is almost always invidious; as, a towering passion; a towering ambition disregards and crushes all opposing considerations, however rational, lovely, or holy. — from high