elephantine

[ el-uh-fan-teen, -tahyn, -tin, el-uh-fuhn-teen, -tahyn ]

/ ˌɛl əˈfæn tin, -taɪn, -tɪn, ˈɛl ə fənˌtin, -ˌtaɪn /

Save This Word!

See synonyms for elephantine on Thesaurus.com

adjective

pertaining to or resembling an elephant.

huge, ponderous, or clumsy: elephantine movements; elephantine humor.

QUIZ

CAN YOU ANSWER THESE COMMON GRAMMAR DEBATES?

There are grammar debates that never die; and the ones highlighted in the questions in this quiz are sure to rile everyone up once again. Do you know how to answer the questions that cause some of the greatest grammar debates?

Question 1 of 7

Which sentence is correct?

His boss, whom he admires, is waiting to meet with him about the big project.

His boss, who he admires, is waiting to meet with him about the big project.

TAKE THE QUIZ TO FIND OUT

Origin of elephantine

1620–30; <Latin elephantinus<Greek elephántinos.See elephant, -ine¹

Words nearby elephantine

elephant fish, elephant folio, elephant grass, elephant gun, elephantiasis, elephantine, elephant in the room, elephant man's disease, elephants, elephant seal, elephant's-ear

Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023

How to use elephantine in a sentence

Lloyd Grove on the elephantine cleanup challenges of having an unruly collection of egomaniacs as backers.
Mitt Romney’s Unruly Surrogates|Lloyd Grove|May 31, 2012|DAILY BEAST
General Botha was big, large and great in body and brain—elephantine!
An Onlooker in France 1917-1919|William Orpen
They, like the press as a whole, were obviously waiting to see which way the great elephantine public would jump.
The Regent|E. Arnold Bennett
The Professor, as I remembered him, had an elephantine sense of humour capable of the most clumsy and unwieldly gambollings.
The Poison Belt|Arthur Conan Doyle

He bowed and shrugged and spread open his hands as he spoke with his elaborate and elephantine sarcasm.
The Poison Belt|Arthur Conan Doyle
There was something elephantine about his nature that prevented him from being simple or casual in his moods.
Narcissus|Evelyn Scott

British Dictionary definitions for elephantine

elephantine

/ (ˌɛlɪˈfæntaɪn) /

adjective

denoting, relating to, or characteristic of an elephant or elephants

huge, clumsy, or ponderous

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

elephantine

Origin of elephantine

Words nearby elephantine

Words related to elephantine

How to use elephantine in a sentence

British Dictionary definitions for elephantine