behemoth
Americannoun
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an animal, perhaps the hippopotamus, mentioned in the Bible.
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any creature or thing of monstrous size or power.
The army's new tank is a behemoth.
The cartel is a behemoth that small business owners fear.
noun
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Old Testament a gigantic beast, probably a hippopotamus, described in Job 40:15
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a huge or monstrous person or thing
Usage
What is a behemoth? A behemoth is a thing or creature of enormous size or power, as in An elephant is a behemoth that even lions and rhinos are afraid of.The word Behemoth also refers to a monstrous creature from the Bible. In Job 40:15, an unknown large animal is referred to as a behemoth and is said to have immense power and eat grass. It is commonly thought that the animal being described is actually a hippopotamus.Example: The powerful company is a behemoth in the electronics industry, dominating the market.
Pop Culture
— Behemoth: Thomas Hobbes's 1681 book on the English Civil Wars, from the Scottish revolution in 1637 to the Restoration of the Monarchy in 1660. —Behemoth: A character in The Master and Margarita by Mikhail Bulgakov. Behemoth is a walking, talking, gun-toting black cat, and a demon in disguise. —Behemoth: A Polish rock band, playing what's known as blackened death metal, a mix of black metal and thrash metal music. —The Behemoth: A video game development company, creators of the popular video games Alien Hominid (2004) and Castle Crashers (2008). — Behemoth: The second book in Scott Westerfield’s steampunk young adult series, published in 2010.
Etymology
Origin of behemoth
1350–1400; from Hebrew bəhēmōth, an augmentative plural of bəhēmāh beast; replacing Middle English bemoth
Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
UnitedHealth Group shares fell more than 50% over the course of a single month in spring 2025, a spectacular immolation for a healthcare behemoth that has operations touching every inch of the sector.
From Barron's
Given the sums they can invest, big family offices can sometimes compete against large institutional investors on deals, putting them up against behemoths such as Apollo Global Management and Blackstone.
All the talk was of TV behemoth HBO and the cinematic arm.
From BBC
Riding alongside was Netflix, the streaming behemoth, which once famously said it didn’t care to televise real sporting events, and I guess we’ll have to take them at their word here.
A short walk away from the research papers was a sprawling expo hall lined with recruiting booths run by tech behemoths and the well-funded startups hoping to challenge them.
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
