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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 of gargantuan
Examples of gargantuan in a Sentence
Jenn Harris, Los Angeles Times, 4 Feb. 2026
That's where SpaceX's gargantuan Starship comes in.
—Eric Lagatta, USA Today, 4 Feb. 2026
Bukele brought murder rates in El Salvador to historic lows through a gargantuan imprisonment campaign and police crackdown, but faces numerous allegations of human rights violations, especially regarding his notorious Terrorism Confinement Center (CECOT).
—Djenane Villanueva, CNN Money, 1 Feb. 2026
The bid to keep people in their seats is particularly acute, as the gargantuan company continues its massive strategic push into the alternative asset management gold rush.
—Amanda Gerut, Fortune, 30 Jan. 2026
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Cite this Entry
“Gargantuan.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/gargantuan. Accessed 6 Feb. 2026.
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gargantuan
adjective
from Gargantua, a giant with an enormous appetite in books by the French author François Rabelais
