sleeping giant

American  

[slee-ping jahy-uhnt] / ˈsli pɪŋ ˈdʒaɪ ənt /

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.

---

Etymology

Origin of sleeping giant

First recorded in 1915–20

Example Sentences

As markets such as Brazil and Europe open up and reimbursement improves, investors could realize that the global opportunity for GLP-1s might be the real sleeping giant in Lilly’s story.

From The Wall Street Journal • Nov. 18, 2025

“Suddenly,” she added, “the sleeping giant has awaked.”

From New York Times • Jul. 14, 2023

Pastner said many of the same things when he arrived in 2016, calling Georgia Tech a sleeping giant even as he faced a massive rebuilding job.

From Seattle Times • Mar. 14, 2023

“It sends a loud and powerful message to the college football world that this sleeping giant is wide awake,” he declared.

From Los Angeles Times • Nov. 30, 2022

He roared into battle, and in the bellowing thumping rough and tumble that followed, one sleeping giant after another either got stepped upon or kicked.

From "The BFG" by Roald Dahl