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

Example Sentences

America’s working class and poor represent a huge sleeping giant of tens of millions of potential voters who could radically reshape the country in ways that would strengthen and expand access to the American Dream.

Read more on Salon

The town's new development proposals also describe it as a "sleeping giant".

Read more on BBC

They saw a sleeping giant waiting to be unleashed.

Read more on The Wall Street Journal

They imagine the American people as a “sleeping giant” that will inevitably rise up against Trumpism and restore democracy.

Read more on Salon

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.

Read more on Los Angeles Times