gargantuan

adjective

gar·​gan·​tuan gär-ˈgan(t)-sh(ə-)wən How to pronounce gargantuan (audio)
often capitalized
: tremendous in size, volume, or degree : gigantic, colossal
gargantuan waterfalls

Did you know?

Gargantua is the name of a giant king in François Rabelais's 16th-century satiric novel Gargantua, the second part of a five-volume series about the giant and his son Pantagruel. All of the details of Gargantua's life befit a giant. He rides a colossal mare whose tail switches so violently that it fells the entire forest of Orleans. He has an enormous appetite, such that in one incident he inadvertently swallows five pilgrims while eating a salad. The scale of everything connected with Gargantua led to the adjective gargantuan, which since William Shakespeare's time has been used for anything of tremendous size or volume.

Examples of gargantuan in a Sentence

a creature of gargantuan proportions people seem to be buying ever more gargantuan SUVs these days
Recent Examples on the Web The company lost subscribers for two straight quarters in 2022 despite gargantuan spending, raising concerns that its growth had plateaued. Tribune News Service, The Mercury News, 7 Mar. 2024 Fans dubbed them ‘Zambia’s Beatles’ while their incendiary on-stage antics and seven-hour sets led to gargantuan local fame. Tracy Kawalik, SPIN, 5 Mar. 2024 The Ukrainian military came to life, ambushing and devastating gargantuan Russian columns advancing over woodland roads toward Kyiv. TIME, 2 Mar. 2024 In keeping with this gargantuan cult of personality, Modi has attempted, largely successfully, to make governance and administration an instrument of his personal will rather than a collaborative effort in which many institutions and individuals work together. Ramachandra Guha, Foreign Affairs, 20 Feb. 2024 Conducting surveys to identify those mines will be a gargantuan challenge. Justin Ling, WIRED, 19 Feb. 2024 The slump wall is moated in a fast current with dangerous eddies that can suck down the side of a boat, there’s a gargantuan amount of mass to be surveyed, and where the hell is the sulfur smell coming from? Cassidy Randall, Rolling Stone, 18 Feb. 2024 The vacuum of space is a gargantuan freezer, and exposure to direct sunlight out there can be just as brutal as the cold. Elizabeth Rayne, Ars Technica, 4 Jan. 2024 And the gargantuan marine mammals made quite the entrance, gently striding through the blue waters. Grethel Aguila, Miami Herald, 4 Feb. 2024

These examples are programmatically compiled from various online sources to illustrate current usage of the word 'gargantuan.' Any opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback about these examples.

Word History

Etymology

Gargantua

First Known Use

1596, in the meaning defined above

Time Traveler
The first known use of gargantuan was in 1596

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Dictionary Entries Near gargantuan

Cite this Entry

“Gargantuan.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/gargantuan. Accessed 18 Mar. 2024.

Kids Definition

gargantuan

adjective
gar·​gan·​tuan gär-ˈganch-wən How to pronounce gargantuan (audio)
-ə-wən
: extraordinary in size, degree, or volume : gigantic
Etymology

from Gargantua, a giant with an enormous appetite in books by the French author François Rabelais

More from Merriam-Webster on gargantuan

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