giant
Americannoun
-
giants
plural
-
(in folklore) a being with human form but superhuman size, strength, etc.
-
a person or thing of unusually great size, power, importance, etc.; major figure; legend.
a giant in her field; an intellectual giant.
-
(often initial capital letter) any of the Gigantes.
-
Mining. monitor.
-
Astronomy. giant star.
adjective
-
unusually large, great, or strong; gigantic; huge.
-
greater or more eminent than others.
noun
-
Also (feminine): giantess. a mythical figure of superhuman size and strength, esp in folklore or fairy tales
-
a person or thing of exceptional size, reputation, etc
a giant in nuclear physics
-
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
-
pathol a person suffering from gigantism
-
astronomy See giant star
-
mining another word for monitor
adjective
-
remarkably or supernaturally large
-
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:
Tore Andre Flo was a menace for Premier League defenders not merely because of his tall, gangly frame but for the silky touches the Norwegian often showed with his giant boots.
From BBC ● Oct. 16, 2026
A giant crayfish nicknamed "Crawzilla" has sparked an unexpected scientific discovery, revealing a possible biological limit to how large North America's crayfish can grow.
From Science Daily ● Oct. 16, 2026
Star oil trader Yaoyao Liu is expected to leave commodities giant Vitol by the end of the year.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Oct. 16, 2026
They take frozen yogurt — sweet or tart — add mix-ins, and then put it in this crazy blender that’s like a giant drill with a handle that comes down.
From Los Angeles Times ● Oct. 16, 2026
From Duane’s perspective, it was as if a giant hand was thrusting out of the sky and stealing bits of the world he knew and cherished.
From "The Very, Very Far North" by Dan Bar-el
A California e-commerce platform is fueling the rise of live shopping in the United States, taking on giants such as TikTok and tackling concerns that the app is draining people’s bank accounts.
From Los Angeles Times ● Oct. 17, 2026
But the policy limits are small compared with the potential exposure of the AI giants.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Oct. 16, 2026
By linking the behavior of relatively small black holes to that of supermassive giants, the findings strengthen the idea that the same basic physical processes operate across vastly different scales.
From Science Daily ● Oct. 16, 2026
It would give Sky access to millions more viewers, while bosses hope it would help both compete with streaming giants such as Netflix.
From BBC ● Oct. 15, 2026
“But Gaea is supposed to wake in Greece. That’s where the giants are gathering.”
From "The House of Hades" by Rick Riordan
Random Word
Spin the wheel and learn a new word!
Get a wordDefinitions 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.
