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• titanic
  titanic

  adjective

  of or containing titanium, especially in the tetravalent state.
• Titanic
  Titanic

  noun

  RMS Titanic, a British luxury liner that sank after colliding with an iceberg in the North Atlantic on its maiden voyage in April 1912, with a loss of more than 1,500 lives.

titanic

¹ American  

[tahy-tan-ik, ti-] / taɪˈtæn ɪk, tɪ- /

adjective

Chemistry.

1. of or containing titanium, especially in the tetravalent state.

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titanic ² American  

[tahy-tan-ik] / taɪˈtæn ɪk /

adjective

1. (initial capital letter) of, relating to, or characteristic of the Titans.

2. Also titan. of enormous size, strength, power, etc.; gigantic.

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Titanic ³ American  

[tahy-tan-ik] / taɪˈtæn ɪk /

noun

1. RMS Titanic, a British luxury liner that sank after colliding with an iceberg in the North Atlantic on its maiden voyage in April 1912, with a loss of more than 1,500 lives.

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Titanic ¹ British  

/ taɪˈtænɪk /

noun

1. a luxury British liner that struck an iceberg near Newfoundland on its maiden voyage on the night of April 14–15, 1912, with the loss of 1513 lives

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titanic ² British  

/ taɪˈtænɪk /

adjective

1. possessing or requiring colossal strength

   a titanic battle

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titanic ³ British  

/ taɪˈtænɪk /

adjective

1. of or containing titanium, esp in the tetravalent state

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Titanic Cultural  

1. A British luxury ocean liner, thought to be unsinkable, which nevertheless sank on its first voyage in 1912 after running into an iceberg in the north Atlantic Ocean. More than fifteen hundred people drowned.

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Other Word Forms

• titanically
  adverb

Etymology

Origin of titanic¹

First recorded in 1820–30; titan(ium) + -ic

Origin of titanic²

From the Greek word Tītānikós, dating back to 1650–60. See Titan, -ic

Explanation

If two rival football teams played a close game that went into overtime, it could be said that winning it was a titanic struggle. This means it took a large amount of force and power to do so. The root word titan is derived from Greek mythology. The Titans were a race of powerful deities. The adjective titanic can now refer to anything extremely large or strong. The Titanic was the name of the famous cruise ship that sank in 1912 after hitting an iceberg in the Atlantic Ocean. This name was chosen not only because it was the largest passenger steamship of its time, but also because it was touted as a strong ship, specifically that it was “unsinkable.”

Example Sentences

See Examples For:

titanic Titanic

Michigan, or the titanic struggle of Joey Chestnut vs. a hot dog, the distinction of greatest rivalry in sports belongs to a showdown that isn’t such a regular fixture on the calendar.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Jul. 14, 2026

The massive ships that glide through the ports of Los Angeles and Long Beach are facing extreme fuel costs as oil prices rise, often paying millions of dollars more to top off their titanic tanks.

From Los Angeles Times ● May 8, 2026

The titanic size of the loss is the most obvious.

From Salon ● Apr. 21, 2026

The first stop is Ibrox on Sunday for a titanic league match, with Celtic trailing Rangers by two points having played one game fewer, with Hearts six clear of the champions.

From BBC ● Feb. 26, 2026

“We need to be self-sufficient,” I imagined Dad would say as he dragged the panels across his titanic house.

From "Educated" by Tara Westover

In absolute terms, Hollywood mega-hits such as the "Avatar" films, "Frozen" or "Titanic" made more money but with blockbuster budgets several hundred times the one available to Barker.

From Barron's ● Jul. 17, 2026

In 1981, Esquire magazine ran a story written by onetime UPI photo staffer Stanley P. Friedman about the most-requested pictures that never actually existed: A shot of the foundering Titanic in 1912.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Jun. 29, 2026

You cannot bail out the Titanic with a soup ladle.

From MarketWatch ● Jun. 25, 2026

But as Celine fulsomely explains in her charmingly thick Québécois accent, she was actually a passenger on the Titanic.

From Los Angeles Times ● May 1, 2026

Without data, you're the Titanic, crossing an Atlantic chock-full of icebergs without radar.

From "Black Swan Green" by David Mitchell