gargantuan

adjective

gar·​gan·​tuan gär-ˈgan(t)-sh(ə-)wən 

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.

Synonyms

• gigantic
• huge
• enormous
• giant
• vast
• massive
• colossal
• tremendous
• mammoth
• immense
• monumental
• astronomical
• monstrous
• astronomic
• titanic

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

Edwards broke his own world record twice on that day, jumping a gargantuan 18 meters and 29 centimeters (slightly over 60 feet) with his second attempt. —George Ramsay, CNN Money, 7 Aug. 2025

Then, the pants: padded green stalk-legs, held up by elastic suspenders, culminating in what felt like gargantuan squishy Frankenstein shoes. —Teri Sforza, Oc Register, 1 Aug. 2025

Both black holes are gargantuan compared to Sagittarius A*, which is the 4.1-million-solar-mass black hole at the centre of our Milky Way galaxy. —Keith Cooper, Space.com, 1 Aug. 2025

Researchers first discovered them using new lightning-tracking satellites that can measure gargantuan flashes at continental-scale distances. —Hayleigh Evans, AZCentral.com, 1 Aug. 2025

Word History

Etymology

Gargantua

First Known Use

1596, in the meaning defined above

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Kids Definition

gargantuan

adjective

gar·​gan·​tuan gär-ˈganch-wən 

-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