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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

Of course, not all shipwrecks find themselves in such relatively hospitable conditions—the Titanic, for instance, is slowly being gobbled up by iron-eating bacteria.

From The Wall Street Journal • May 22, 2026

Readers will find engrossing case studies of well-known disasters such as the Titanic and the USS Indianapolis, as well as sections on bygone Viking wrecks and the mysterious “ghost ships” of seafaring lore.

From The Wall Street Journal • May 22, 2026

US singer Billie Eilish is set to shake up the space further with her new 3D concert movie, recorded in collaboration with Titanic and Avatar director James Cameron.

From BBC • May 7, 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

Worrying about graffiti at a time when the entire system was close to collapse seems as pointless as scrubbing the decks of the Titanic as it headed toward the icebergs.

From "The Tipping Point" by Malcolm Gladwell