sleeping giant
Americannoun
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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.”
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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
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
Sumner called the guarantee clause “a sleeping giant in the Constitution, never until this war awakened,” that “now comes forward with a giant’s power.”
From Slate ● Jun. 3, 2026
Europe was "a giant, but a sleeping giant" that needed waking up.
From BBC ● Jan. 28, 2026
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
A sleeping giant, Jansen is not, but the established and accomplished veteran could play an outsize role in the development of the Angels’ potential next great closer.
From Los Angeles Times ● Feb. 23, 2025
It looked like a sleeping giant covered with ants as the builders went about their task.
From "Beowulf: A New Telling" by Robert Nye
Definitions 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.
