giant

1 of 2

noun

gi·​ant ˈjī-ənt How to pronounce giant (audio)
plural giants
1
: a legendary humanlike being of great stature and strength
2
a
: a living being of great size
b
: a person of extraordinary powers
3
: something unusually large or powerful
4
astronomy : a star of high luminosity and relatively great mass and size
a red giant
As it exhausts its hydrogen fuel, changes in its interior trigger a transformation from a blue giant to a yellow supergiant in only a few hundred thousand years.James B. Kaler
compare dwarf sense 4a, supergiant
giantlike adjective

giant

2 of 2

adjective

: having extremely large size, proportion, or power

Examples of giant in a Sentence

Noun the land of the giants the Great Pyramids of Egypt are giants among the world's architectural wonders Adjective a giant-size box of detergent the giant sycamore tree that dwarfs our house is almost 250 years old
Recent Examples on the Web
Noun
Online Slots Selection: 4.6/5 Super Slots offers over 600 online slots games that are provided by giants like Betsoft, Nucleus, and Dragon Gaming, just to name a few. Sponsored Content, The Mercury News, 11 Mar. 2024 Relations continued to spiral over a host of issues from US national security alarm over Chinese telecommunications giant Huawei to China’s handling of the outbreak of Covid-19. Simone McCarthy, CNN, 10 Mar. 2024 In 2008, Fabio was promoted to an executive job at the beauty giant Wella and moved his family to L.A. Michelle Miller, CBS News, 9 Mar. 2024 It’s been a few months of stratospheric growth for the Danish pharma giant Novo Nordisk, which makes Ozempic and Wegovy. Byprarthana Prakash, Fortune Europe, 8 Mar. 2024 Maine’s Legislature voted down a bill, which the bottled-water giant had lobbied aggressively against, that would have limited large-scale pumping of groundwater in the state. Dave Philipps, New York Times, 8 Mar. 2024 Pharmaceutical giant Eli Lilly is finally weighing in on Hollywood’s obsession with Ozempic. Adrianna Rodriguez, USA TODAY, 7 Mar. 2024 The music giant’s Q4 results showed streaming revenue declined 1.3% year-over-year, but grew 5.6% in constant currency. Thania Garcia, Variety, 28 Feb. 2024 At that point, Amazon would have owned the rights to Road House due to the tech giant’s acquisition of MGM’s film library, but the tech giant’s claim on the work was set to expire in November 2023. Amrita Khalid, The Verge, 28 Feb. 2024
Adjective
Crane flies, also known as mosquito hawks thanks to their resemblance to giant mosquitoes, are out in force right now. The Arizona Republic, 12 Mar. 2024 The line was a callback to a cosmetic product Jasmine found under the seat of Gino’s car — sparking a giant argument between the couple. Kelly Wynne, Peoplemag, 11 Mar. 2024 Godzilla Minus One is a period film that takes the giant kaiju back to his roots, showing the creature emerging just as Japan is struggling to recover from the ravages of World War II. Patrick Brzeski, The Hollywood Reporter, 11 Mar. 2024 While walking the red carpet at the 96th Academy Awards on Sunday, the actress accidentally bumped into a giant Oscar statue while turning around to pose for photos and reaching out her hand to her husband, Jesse Plemons. Sydney Bucksbaum, EW.com, 11 Mar. 2024 Peso whips around with a giant grin on his face and points at me. Julyssa Lopez, Rolling Stone, 11 Mar. 2024 Yes, karate chops, hip thrusts and giant Barbie heads were involved. Ashley Lee, Los Angeles Times, 11 Mar. 2024 Tonight, with multiple giant box-office successes such as Oppenheimer and Barbie up for a slew of awards, the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences had a prime opportunity to stage a great ceremony—and this time, basically nothing went wrong. David Sims, The Atlantic, 11 Mar. 2024 The event features a family scavenger hunt, photos with the Easter Bunny, a fun zone with bounce houses and a giant slide. Linda McIntosh, San Diego Union-Tribune, 11 Mar. 2024

These examples are programmatically compiled from various online sources to illustrate current usage of the word 'giant.' 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

Noun

Middle English giaunt, from Anglo-French geant, from Latin gigant-, gigas, from Greek

First Known Use

Noun

13th century, in the meaning defined at sense 1

Adjective

15th century, in the meaning defined above

Time Traveler
The first known use of giant was in the 13th century

Dictionary Entries Near giant

Cite this Entry

“Giant.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/giant. Accessed 19 Mar. 2024.

Kids Definition

giant

1 of 2 noun
gi·​ant ˈjī-ənt How to pronounce giant (audio)
1
: a very large and strong being of legend
2
: a person or thing that is very large or powerful

giant

2 of 2 adjective
: much larger or more powerful than ordinary

More from Merriam-Webster on giant

Last Updated: - Updated example sentences
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