leviathan

[ li-vahy-uh-thuhn ]
See synonyms for leviathan on Thesaurus.com
noun
  1. Often Leviathan .Bible. a sea monster.

  2. any huge marine animal, as the whale.

  1. anything of immense size and power, as a huge, oceangoing ship.

  2. Leviathan, a philosophical work (1651) by Thomas Hobbes dealing with the political organization of society.

Origin of leviathan

1
First recorded in 1350–1400; Middle English levyathan, from Late Latin leviathan, ultimately from Hebrew liwyāthān

Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2024

British Dictionary definitions for leviathan

leviathan

/ (lɪˈvaɪəθən) /


noun
  1. Bible a monstrous beast, esp a sea monster

  2. any huge or powerful thing

Origin of leviathan

1
C14: from Late Latin, ultimately from Hebrew liwyāthān, of obscure origin

Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012

Cultural definitions for Leviathan

Leviathan

[ (luh-veye-uh-thuhn) ]


A sea monster mentioned in the Book of Job, where it is associated with the forces of chaos and evil.

Notes for Leviathan

Figuratively, a “leviathan” is any enormous beast.

Notes for Leviathan

Leviathan is a work on politics by the seventeenth-century English author Thomas Hobbes.

The New Dictionary of Cultural Literacy, Third Edition Copyright © 2005 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.