Goliath
Americannoun
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(in the Bible) the giant warrior of the Philistines whom David killed with a stone from a sling.
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Usually goliath a giant.
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Usually goliath a very large, powerful, or influential person or thing.
a neighborhood grocery competing against the supermarket goliaths.
noun
Etymology
Origin of Goliath
Ultimately from Hebrew Gōlyāth, of uncertain origin
Explanation
Someone or something with an unusually large amount of strength is a goliath. Your soccer team might be nervous if you show up to a game and the other team's players are a bunch of goliaths. This adjective comes from the Biblical figure Goliath, who despite his greater size and strength was defeated by the young David. So while it's fine to use goliath to simply mean "giant" or "strong person," it's even more fitting for something supposedly strong and unbeatable that's actually vulnerable. You might challenge a goliath of a developer that's threatening to cut down the oldest maple tree in town — and, like David, you just might win.
Vocabulary lists containing goliath
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.
Otherwise, public schools would be forced to leave children in ignorance of a large swath of the Western tradition: David and Goliath?
From The Wall Street Journal • Jun. 21, 2026
“If you scroll back to ‘Game of Thrones’ in the first two seasons, it wasn’t a massive Goliath success, and it exploded after Season 3 with the Red Wedding.
From Los Angeles Times • Jun. 15, 2026
"This is a German Cup situation. David versus Goliath," he said, and warned his team: "You never win a match just because you're favourites."
From Barron's • Jun. 14, 2026
Although she felt like it was a "David vs. Goliath" at the hearing, she said she felt vindicated when the panel ruled in her favour.
From BBC • Apr. 18, 2026
The thing was smaller than I—but wasn’t I being a foolhardy Goliath here?
From "Life of Pi" by Yann Martel
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.
