Advertisement
Advertisement
gigantic
/ dʒaɪˈɡæntɪk /
adjective
- very large; enormous
a gigantic error
- Alsogigantesqueˌdʒaɪɡænˈtɛsk of or suitable for giants
Discover More
Derived Forms
- giˈgantically, adverb
- giˈganticness, noun
Discover More
Other Words From
- gi·ganti·cal·ly adverb
- gi·gantic·ness noun
Discover More
Word History and Origins
Origin of gigantic1
Discover More
Synonym Study
Discover More
Example Sentences
Meanwhile, Microsoft is also butting heads with Amazon over cloud computing, the gigantic business that involves supplying data center computing power to corporate customers.
It’s important to note, however, that our analysis assumes that the non-car, 15% of Tesla’s business also grows at gigantic, 20%-plus rates in the future.
Flashy department stores sprang up in cities, sparkling new malls dotted the suburbs, and big-box stores grew to gigantic proportions around the country.
Fortunately, plasmas can be manipulated using magnetic fields, and so gigantic electromagnets are used to keep the plasma spinning around a donut-shaped reactor called a tokamak.
Maybe a massive computer-science lab or a well-funded medical-device workshop or a flavor-profile laboratory run by a gigantic food company.
The five men, their Land Rover, and their supplies were loaded into the gigantic military aircraft.
A gigantic solar storm could fry power grids, knocking out electricity for months.
She throws gigantic, destructive parties, and purposely lights his ottomans on fire.
In January 1915 gigantic German Zeppelin airships appeared in the night over London and dropped bombs at random.
Consider the gigantic implications of this precise logical observation.
He used to walk through the park, and note with pleasure the care that his father bestowed on the gigantic property.
The embankment or road-bed was commenced by gigantic piling, and is very broad and substantial.
The machine penetrated everywhere, thrusting aside with its gigantic arm the feeble efforts of handicraft.
The gigantic pylon, its shoulders breaking the sky four-square far overhead, seemed the prodigious portal of another world.
Emigration is now proceeding with gigantic strides, and is destined for some time to continue.
Advertisement
Discover More
Related Words
Discover More
More About Gigantic
What does gigantic mean?
Gigantic means extraordinarily large or huge. Some things are more than huge—they’re gigantic.
The word is most often applied to physical objects whose size makes you marvel with awe. Blue whales are gigantic. Skyscrapers are gigantic. The Grand Canyon is gigantic.
But it can also be applied to intangible things, as in With all the champagne and caviar that we ordered, the bill for dinner is going to be gigantic.
Similar adjectives are gargantuan, giant, colossal, and mammoth. A more formal synonym is massive. A more informal synonym is humongous. An even more informal synonym is ginormous (a blend of giant or gigantic and enormous). A much less common variant of gigantic is gigantean.
Like any adjective used to describe something’s size, gigantic is often used in a way that’s relative to the situation. Many things described as gigantic are objectively huge, like redwood trees or the planet Jupiter. But something might be considered gigantic only in comparison to other similar things. For example, an unusually large grapefruit might be described as gigantic even though it’s not all that big in general—it’s simply gigantic compared to normal-sized grapefruits.
Gigantic is sometimes casually used to mean extremely important or significant—much like the figurative use of big and huge, as in This is a gigantic win for the franchise. Sometimes, this is negative, as in gigantic error, gigantic failure, or gigantic misunderstanding.
Example: You don’t realize how gigantic the sun is until you see an image of a planet next to it for scale.
Where does gigantic come from?
The first records of the word gigantic come from the early 1600s. It comes from the Greek gigantikos, from gigas, meaning “giant.” The Latin prefix gigant- is derived from this root and is also used to form words like gigantism and gigantesque.
A less common sense of gigantic means “like a giant,” referring to an extraordinarily large person, especially the kind from fairy tales and legends. These kinds of giants are often depicted as much bigger than a human could ever be. The related word gigantesque can be used as a synonym for this sense of gigantic.
Did you know ... ?
What are some other forms related to gigantic?
- gigantically (adverb)
- giganticness (noun)
What are some synonyms for gigantic?
What are some words that share a root or word element with gigantic?
What are some words that often get used in discussing gigantic?
How is gigantic used in real life?
Gigantic is used to describe things that are truly massive. It’s also commonly used in an exaggerated way to describe something that’s very large compared to others of its kind.
It’s #WhaleWednesday so here’s a…
Wait a minute. That’s not a whale!
This is a giant ichthyosaur. Ichthyosaurs were the first truly gigantic animals to evolve. The largest skeleton is 21 metres long and belongs to the Triassic species, Shonisaurus sikanniensis. pic.twitter.com/qbFzHZl6yr
— Dr Dean Lomax (@Dean_R_Lomax) November 11, 2020
A Student Created These Images To Show How Gigantic Some Objects Really Are. https://t.co/R4zLySMqPu pic.twitter.com/nnqtBp4AIB
— AMORQ 🇺🇸 (@amorqcom) November 12, 2020
I’m not a big fan of hating on refs, but those were gigantic mistakes by that crew that could have huge impacts.#LSUvsTAMU
— Matt Flynn (@mflynn3) November 25, 2018
Try using gigantic!
Which of the following words is a synonym of gigantic?
A. gigantean
B. gargantuan
C. ginormous
D. all of the above
Word of the Day
[in-vet-er-it ]
Meaning and examplesStart each day with the Word of the Day in your inbox!
By clicking "Sign Up", you are accepting Dictionary.com Terms & Conditions and Privacy Policies.
Advertisement
Advertisement
Advertisement
Browse