giant
Americannoun
-
giants
plural
-
(in folklore) a being with human form but superhuman size, strength, etc.
-
a person or thing of unusually great size, power, importance, etc.; major figure; legend.
a giant in her field; an intellectual giant.
-
(often initial capital letter) any of the Gigantes.
-
Mining. monitor.
-
Astronomy. giant star.
adjective
-
unusually large, great, or strong; gigantic; huge.
-
greater or more eminent than others.
noun
-
Also (feminine): giantess. a mythical figure of superhuman size and strength, esp in folklore or fairy tales
-
a person or thing of exceptional size, reputation, etc
a giant in nuclear physics
-
Greek myth any of the large and powerful offspring of Uranus (sky) and Gaea (earth) who rebelled against the Olympian gods but were defeated in battle
-
pathol a person suffering from gigantism
-
astronomy See giant star
-
mining another word for monitor
adjective
-
remarkably or supernaturally large
-
architect another word for colossal
Other Word Forms
Derived Forms
Inflected Forms
Nouns
Etymology
Origin of giant
First recorded in 1250–1300; Middle English geant, from Old French, from Latin gigant-, stem of gigās, from Greek Gígās; replacing Old English gigant, from Latin, as above
Explanation
A giant is someone that's unusually enormous. You can also use the word giant to describe something or someone that is really big. That giant green guy over there? That's the jolly green giant. Ho ho ho. A star basketball player might be described as a giant, or a stunningly tall redwood tree, or even a very large business. These giants come from the giants of mythology, huge creatures that are featured in fairy and folk tales and inspired by the giants of Greek myth, who were a separate race of strong, aggressive gods. The Greek root is Gigas, with the plural form Gigantes.
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.
See Examples For:
The technology giant announced Monday that it plans a $10 billion stock offering.
From MarketWatch ● Nov. 2, 2026
One Instagram Reel shows a film crew capturing a giant wave flattening a model city with the caption, “No CGI. No compositing. Just a hand-built miniature Miami and a 40-foot wave tank.”
From The Wall Street Journal ● Nov. 2, 2026
In spring 1903, two of the separated groups reunited at a location later named Cape Well-met, near what now resembles the “forehead” of the island's giant skull.
From Science Daily ● Nov. 2, 2026
She has a giant stuffed alligator on her bed and an enormous sword hanging over the kitchen counter.
From Los Angeles Times ● Nov. 2, 2026
The moon is giant, bright, and a movie-theater-butter yellow.
From "Legendary Frybread Drive-In" by Cynthia Leitich Smith
Solaka oversees portfolios for individuals who often have concentrated bets in individual stocks, including the tech giants that have powered markets in recent years.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Nov. 1, 2026
Shares in US tech giants were pummeled on Friday, capping a week of earnings results that raised questions on Wall Street about whether the AI spending bonanza was sustainable.
From Barron's ● Oct. 30, 2026
MarketWatch’s William Gavin examines what it would actually take to put up a challenge to America’s wireless giants.
From MarketWatch ● Oct. 29, 2026
DoorDash announced Thursday it will buy rival Instacart for $17 billion in a deal that the company says will help local businesses compete with delivery giants such as Amazon and Walmart.
From Los Angeles Times ● Oct. 29, 2026
Slung between the two giants of modern biology, he was inevitably haunted by an acute sense of scientific inadequacy.
From "The Gene" by Siddhartha Mukherjee
Random Word
Spin the wheel and learn a new word!
Get a wordDefinitions 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.
