colossus

American  

[kuh-los-uhs] / kəˈlɒs əs /

noun

plural

colossi, colossuses

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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Etymology

Origin of colossus

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

Example Sentences

For most of his life, Michelangelo’s 16th-century biographer Ascanio Condivi tells us, the artist aspired to carve a colossus out of a coastal mountain, a figure visible from ships at sea.

From The Wall Street Journal

But that didn’t guarantee its triumph as a financial and cultural colossus.

From The Wall Street Journal

As JPMorgan’s workers trickled back to work, they saw the new colossus rising about one floor every week as they looked out of their cafeteria windows and cubicles.

From The Wall Street Journal

Spanish banking giant BBVA's hostile takeover bid for smaller rival Sabadell has failed, dashing its hopes of creating a new European sector colossus, the stock market regulator announced on Thursday.

From Barron's

OpenAI is making an early bid to become a colossus in the AI age, but many of these new companies may not yet be on anyone’s radar, and some might not even exist.

From Barron's