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.
"I knew we were a sleeping giant that we needed to awaken in some way."
From BBC • May 28, 2026
They saw a sleeping giant waiting to be unleashed.
From The Wall Street Journal • Oct. 21, 2025
Latinos are no longer the sleeping giant of American politics.
From Los Angeles Times • Dec. 30, 2024
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
And the yew tree hovering over the graveyard like a sleeping giant.
From "A Monster Calls" by Patrick Ness
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.
