colossus

noun

co·​los·​sus kə-ˈlä-səs 

plural colossi kə-ˈlä-ˌsī 

1

: a statue of gigantic size and proportions

2

: a person or thing of immense size or power

Did you know?

The original colossi (notice the plural form) were the larger-than-life statues made by the Greeks and Romans. The most famous of these was the Colossus of Rhodes, a statue of the sun god Helios built on the Greek island of Rhodes around 280 B.C. that was over 100 feet tall and took more than 12 years to build. The Statue of Liberty is a modern colossus, enormous and stately, at the entrance to New York Harbor. And someone who has played a colossal role in history, such as Winston Churchill, may be called a colossus as well.

Synonyms

• behemoth
• blockbuster
• dinosaur
• dreadnought
• elephant
• giant
• Goliath
• jumbo
• leviathan
• mammoth
• mastodon
• monster
• titan
• whale
• whopper

Examples of colossus in a Sentence

The building is a colossus of steel and glass.

Leonardo da Vinci remains a colossus in the history of art.

Recent Examples on the Web

India’s media colossus JioStar is doubling down on content investment, pouring approximately $3.6 billion into programming this year, with plans to increase spending further in 2026, according to vice chair Uday Shankar. —Naman Ramachandran, Variety, 4 May 2025

Snow White is, for better and (mostly) worse, a product of a corporation that has for years been lumbering after its idea of the Zeitgeist with all the agility of an aging colossus. —Alison Willmore, Vulture, 19 Mar. 2025

The spotlight shines so brightly now because, while escaping so many legal entanglements that might have upended his career, Mr. Combs became a hit-minting, zeitgeist-dominating colossus. —Ben Sisario, New York Times, 30 Apr. 2025

Trump’s tariffs strike at the heart of China’s manufacturing colossus—a network of factories and assembly lines that produce pretty much everything, from toys and clothes to solar panels and plastic bowls. —Charlie Campbell, Time, 28 Mar. 2025

Word History

Etymology

Latin, from Greek kolossos

First Known Use

before the 12th century, in the meaning defined at sense 1

Rhymes for colossus

• proboscis

Kids Definition

colossus

noun

co·​los·​sus kə-ˈläs-əs 

plural colossi -ˈläs-ˌī 

1

: a huge statue

2

: a person or thing of great size or power

Etymology

from Latin colossus "huge statue, colossus"