colossus

American  

[kuh-los-uhs] / kəˈlɒs əs /

noun

colossi, plural colossuses plural

1. (initial capital letter) the legendary bronze statue of Helios at Rhodes.

2. any statue of gigantic size.

3. anything colossal, gigantic, or very powerful.

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colossus British  

/ kəˈlɒsəs /

noun

1. something very large, esp a statue

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Other Word Forms

Inflected Forms

noun

• colossuses
  plural
• colossi
  plural

Etymology

Origin of colossus

1350–1400; Middle English < Latin < Greek kolossós statue, image, presumably < a pre-Hellenic Mediterranean language

Explanation

The original colossus was an enormous statue that was supposed to have guarded the ancient Greek island and city of Rhodes. Now, though, we use the noun colossus for someone of huge importance, reputation, or influence. In the world of American music, Louis Armstrong is a colossus. He invented or perfected many of the elements of what we now call jazz — there's probably no figure of greater importance in that field. Even the second most important athlete in the world seems small in comparison to the colossus that is Muhammad Ali. He is, quite simply, the greatest. In the ancient world, Rome was an imperial colossus. Few nations could rival its strength, size, or colossal growth.

Example Sentences

Like other miners, Viridis initially plans to export the rare earths produced at its $360 million Colossus project.

From The Wall Street Journal • Jun. 9, 2026

I probably don’t need to tell you that Don Colossus is ugly.

From Slate • Jun. 2, 2026

Musk, who is embroiled in a legal battle against the founders of OpenAI, is leasing access to his Colossus data centers to Anthropic for $1.25 billion per month.

From Barron's • Jun. 1, 2026

“SpaceX has not committed to leasing Colossus for years, although it’s possible that may be what happens,” Musk said.

From MarketWatch • Jun. 1, 2026

In 1654 Walter Charleton called for ‘a Colossus of Gold’ to be erected in Galileo’s honour.

From "The Invention of Science" by David Wootton