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
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Noun
Photo by Ian Maule/Getty Images Mexico has gone without loss thus far in the 2025 Gold Cup, though things have been far from perfect for the CONCACAF giants, as Mexico narrowly defeated the Dominican Republic 3-2 in its Gold Cup opener. Kilty Cleary, MSNBC Newsweek, 29 June 2025 Now, the search giant is throwing a revenue bone to those sites. Chris Morris, Fortune, 27 June 2025
Adjective
The French American artist, who died in 2010, is best known for her giant sculptures of spiders, including a 20-foot-high bronze creation that sold for $32.8 million in 2023, setting a record-high price for a work by a female artist. Julia Teti, Footwear News, 30 June 2025 Once upon a time, the movie tells us, people flocked to see these giant creatures resurrected from old DNA. David Fear, Rolling Stone, 30 June 2025 See All Example Sentences for giant

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

Cite this Entry

“Giant.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/giant. Accessed 3 Jul. 2025.

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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