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.
Never mind that if he was the David, then the Goliath was the Los Angeles Department of Transportation’s parking division, notoriously difficult to challenge.
From Los Angeles Times • Apr. 13, 2026
He said it was "becoming tougher" for residents to make a living and believed overturning Article 4 was a "little David and Goliath moment" for campaigners.
From BBC • Mar. 23, 2026
At the time, Taylor described the case as a "David and Goliath" battle, saying she was devastated by the decision.
From BBC • Mar. 11, 2026
Yet on the other side, that was still a heavyweight, a Goliath in red.
From The Wall Street Journal • Feb. 22, 2026
Mrs. Olinski's sixth graders were David versus the eighth grade Goliath, and the kids with the slingshots knew how to use them.
From "The View From Saturday" by E.L. Konigsburg
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.
