giant
Americannoun
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(in folklore) a being with human form but superhuman size, strength, etc.
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a person or thing of unusually great size, power, importance, etc.; major figure; legend.
a giant in her field; an intellectual giant.
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(often initial capital letter) any of the Gigantes.
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Mining. monitor.
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Astronomy. giant star.
adjective
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unusually large, great, or strong; gigantic; huge.
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greater or more eminent than others.
noun
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Also (feminine): giantess. a mythical figure of superhuman size and strength, esp in folklore or fairy tales
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a person or thing of exceptional size, reputation, etc
a giant in nuclear physics
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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
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pathol a person suffering from gigantism
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astronomy See giant star
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mining another word for monitor
adjective
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remarkably or supernaturally large
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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:
Still, York argues it is unlikely that Aldi will take dramatic market share from Walmart, because the retail giant is simply too massive.
From BBC ● Jul. 12, 2026
He added that the giant flightless Cnemiornis geese provide another remarkable example of how quickly island species can change.
From Science Daily ● Jul. 11, 2026
In Dallas, giant gas station Buc-ee’s is the main attraction.
From Los Angeles Times ● Jul. 11, 2026
Fidji Simo won’t return from medical leave, leaving a major role to fill as the AI giant prepares to go public.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jul. 10, 2026
Ruth held out an empty giant nacho cheese can.
From "Legendary Frybread Drive-In" by Cynthia Leitich Smith
Trained in computer vision, a critical part of autonomous and intelligent driving systems, Peil could once have expected to sail into a role at one of Germany's industrial giants.
From Barron's ● Jul. 12, 2026
Alex Karp—describing himself as a “madman”—has brought the simmering tension between fast-rising AI giants and established tech players to a boil.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jul. 11, 2026
Whether the future belongs to fully reusable giants like Starship or more efficient partially reusable systems, the study suggests there may be more than one successful path to the next generation of spaceflight.
From Science Daily ● Jul. 11, 2026
It also gives food and beverage giants something positive to talk about “at a time when their core business is under pressure,” she noted.
From MarketWatch ● Jul. 11, 2026
In it she tricked the giants into giving her a special quill and ink to write stories.
From "The Way to Rio Luna" by Zoraida Cordova
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.
