Brobdingnagian
Americanadjective
Etymology
Origin of Brobdingnagian
First recorded in 1725–30; Brobdingnag + -ian
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.
The words seem today, dwarfed as they are by the Brobdingnagian architectural setting, a bit smaller than they once did.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jun. 17, 2026
Downstairs in the exhibition galleries is his related sculpture of a folding card-table and four metal chairs, rendered in not dissimilar Brobdingnagian proportions.
From Los Angeles Times ● Nov. 25, 2025
In working on a series of Brobdingnagian sculptures called “Family Trees” that featured photos of her relatives, she said she came to understand her identity was half Czech and half American.
From Washington Post ● Jul. 22, 2022
“It was a Brobdingnagian grip-and-grin if there ever was one.”
From Salon ● Jul. 8, 2018
Given passenger pigeons’ Brobdingnagian appetites for mast and maize, one would expect that Indians would also have hunted them and wanted to keep down their numbers.
From "1491" by Charles C. Mann
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.
