sleeping giant

[slee-ping jahy-uhnt]

noun

1. someone or something whose strength has not been fully demonstrated or recognized but that, once provoked, will respond with unexpected force and extraordinary power.

   The Japanese admiral, anticipating the U.S. reaction to the bombing of Pearl Harbor, allegedly said, “I fear all we have done is to awaken a sleeping giant.”

2. Ecology.,  an environmental condition or circumstance that has the potential for drastic consequences to one or more of the earth’s life systems.

   The rapidly melting glaciers of eastern Antarctica represent some of our planet’s most dramatic sleeping giants.

Word History and Origins

Origin of sleeping giant¹

First recorded in 1915–20