colossus

American  

[kuh-los-uhs] / kəˈlɒs əs /

noun

colossi, plural colossuses plural

1. (initial capital letter) the legendary bronze statue of Helios at Rhodes.

2. any statue of gigantic size.

3. anything colossal, gigantic, or very powerful.

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colossus British  

/ kəˈlɒsəs /

noun

1. something very large, esp a statue

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Other Word Forms

Noun Inflected Forms

• colossi
  plural
• colossuses
  plural

Etymology

Origin of colossus

1350–1400; Middle English < Latin < Greek kolossós statue, image, presumably < a pre-Hellenic Mediterranean language

Explanation

The original colossus was an enormous statue that was supposed to have guarded the ancient Greek island and city of Rhodes. Now, though, we use the noun colossus for someone of huge importance, reputation, or influence. In the world of American music, Louis Armstrong is a colossus. He invented or perfected many of the elements of what we now call jazz — there's probably no figure of greater importance in that field. Even the second most important athlete in the world seems small in comparison to the colossus that is Muhammad Ali. He is, quite simply, the greatest. In the ancient world, Rome was an imperial colossus. Few nations could rival its strength, size, or colossal growth.

Example Sentences

See Examples For:

colossus colossi colossuses

Paramount is the smallest of the major media companies and acquiring Warner Bros. is key to David Ellison’s ambitions to build a new Hollywood colossus.

From Los Angeles Times ● Jul. 15, 2026

Michelangelo wanted to carve a colossus out of a mountain but never did; Borglum cut four.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Jul. 2, 2026

Don’s suit is indented with billowing wrinkles, perhaps to suggest the idea of movement, as if the colossus is soaring through the air.

From Slate ● Jun. 2, 2026

When the chips were down he was a colossus for Celtic, driven, focused, as hungry as anybody to get his team over the line and more influential than most in ensuring it happened.

From BBC ● May 23, 2026

But Diderot’s name for this newly born colossus is not ‘Science’, as we might expect.

From "The Invention of Science" by David Wootton

While those football colossi dreamed of taking over the U.S. market, American sports owners took over the powerhouses.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Jun. 5, 2026

His analysis focused on Shadow of the Colossus, which features a wanderer who travels on horseback to defeat giant beasts known as colossi.

From Salon ● Nov. 13, 2021

The newly unearthed city is located between the temple of King Rameses III and the colossi of Amenhotep III on the west bank of the Nile River in Luxor.

From Washington Times ● Apr. 9, 2021

These glitz-free, idiomatic churches of sweat and sparring - where age-old ring knowledge nurtured colossi such as Sugar Ray Robinson, Jake LaMotta and Riddick Bowe - were already on shaky legs prior to lockdown.

From BBC ● Jul. 14, 2020

The two most famous colossi are the seated figures in the plain of Thebes.

From Museum of Antiquity A Description of Ancient Life by Haines, T. L. (Thomas Louis)

We had been impressed with brief stays in Rochester and Buffalo, two one-time commercial colossuses.

From New York Times ● Jul. 1, 2020

Investors are betting, in part, that the Covid-19 crisis accelerates the already growing power of America’s corporate colossuses.

From New York Times ● Apr. 28, 2020

Alisson and Van Dijk are two colossuses – big, confident people.

From The Guardian ● Jan. 14, 2020

But what makes the “Transformers” movies different from other blockbuster colossuses is Bay.

From Washington Times ● Jun. 20, 2017

The guards of the Legion galloped about at random; the people climbed upon the houses, the terraces, the shoulders of the colossuses, and the masts of the ships.

From Salammbo by Flaubert, Gustave