mammoth

American  

[mam-uhth] / ˈmæm əθ /

noun

• mammoths
  plural

1. any large, elephantlike mammal of the extinct genus Mammuthus, from the Pleistocene Epoch, having hairy skin and ridged molar teeth.

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adjective

1. immensely large; huge; enormous.

   a mammoth organization.

mammoth British  

/ ˈmæməθ /

noun

1. any large extinct elephant of the Pleistocene genus Mammuthus (or Elephas ), such as M. primigenius ( woolly mammoth ), having a hairy coat and long curved tusks

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adjective

1. of gigantic size or importance

mammoth Scientific  

/ măm′əth /

1. Any of various extinct elephants of the genus Mammuthus, having long, upwardly curving tusks and thick hair. Mammoths grew to great size and lived throughout the Northern Hemisphere during the Ice Age.

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Synonym Usage

See gigantic.

Other Word Forms

Noun Inflected Forms

• mammoths
  plural

Etymology

Origin of mammoth

1690–1700; < Russian mam(m)ot (now mámont ), first used in reference to remains of the animal found in Siberia; origin uncertain

Compare meaning

How does mammoth compare to similar and commonly confused words? Explore the most common comparisons:

• mastodon vs. mammoth

Explanation

The adjective mammoth is a great way to describe something really, really big, like those huge woolly elephants they’re still finding in the melting glaciers. The word mammoth is a pretty new one, dating back only to around 1700. It was first only a noun from the Russian word mammot, meaning “earth,” and used to name the newly-discovered fossilized creature that was thought to have burrowed in the earth like a mole. The word, a rare Russian contribution to English, was not used as an adjective until around 1800 — notably when President Thomas Jefferson used it to describe a very large cheese.

Example Sentences

See Examples For:

mammoth mammoths

Among other concerns on supply are the mammoth sales of debt by some big tech companies in recent months as they raise funds to pay for their large investments in AI.

From MarketWatch ● Aug. 18, 2026

Sunrisers have boasted one of the most powerful top orders in the tournament but struggled under the pressure of a mammoth run chase and they finished 166-7.

From BBC ● Aug. 14, 2026

With Thursday’s sign-off by the California Public Utilities Commission, the mammoth merger is expected to close next week.

From Los Angeles Times ● Aug. 14, 2026

The most vivid impacts are playing out on the Danube, where water levels have receded enough to expose old World War II-era bombs and even older mammoth bones.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 3, 2026

On my left was a high gray cobblestone wall with a mammoth dragon skull mounted on it.

From "Ready Player One: A Novel" by Ernest Cline

According to UK Fossils, Suffolk is "well known" for its fossils from the Pleistocene era - also known as the Great Ice Age - including those belonging to mammoths.

From BBC ● Apr. 10, 2026

Sora transfixed the tech world by creating seemingly realistic videos of everything from woolly mammoths trekking across a snowy field to a stylish woman walking down a Tokyo street filled with glowing neon signs.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Mar. 30, 2026

But as the climate warmed, the woolly mammoths gradually vanished, with the last small herds surviving on remote Arctic islands until just 4,000 years ago.

From Science Daily ● Nov. 15, 2025

It peers across the street at the bubbling La Brea Tar Pits with their fiber-glass mammoths and saber-tooth cats.

From Los Angeles Times ● Sep. 24, 2025

Mammoths had flourished for millions of years over most of the northern hemisphere, but as Homo sapiens spread—first over Eurasia and then over North America—the mammoths retreated.

From "Sapiens: A Brief History of Humankind" by Yuval Noah Harari

Related Words

• colossal
• enormous
• gargantuan
• gigantic
• immense
• large
• massive
• monstrous
• monumental
• prodigious
• vast