giant

noun gi·ant \ ˈjī-ənt \

Updated on: 20 Apr 2018

Definition of giant

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

—

giantlike

play \ˈjī-ənt-ˌlīk\ adjective

See giant defined for English-language learners

See giant defined for kids

Examples of giant in a Sentence

the land of the giants
the Great Pyramids of Egypt are giants among the world's architectural wonders

Recent Examples of giant from the Web

Wednesday night’s event was to honor those students as well as individuals like Google’s Demma Rosa Rodriguez, head of equity engineering for the tech giant.

— danielle c. belton, The Root, "How Physics Works and Other Things I Learned at All Star Code’s 5th Anniversary Celebration," 14 Apr. 2018
Internet giant Amazon — which likely contributed to the demise of the 70-year-old retailer — was reportedly interested in buying some of its empty storefronts.

— jamie ducharme, Fortune, "A Billionaire Toy Maker Will Still Try to Buy Hundreds of Toys 'R' Us Stores, Despite Failed Crowdfunding Attempt," 13 Apr. 2018
The tech giant has reached a deal with Skydance Television, which last June reached a deal with the Asimov estate to create the series.

— david grossman, Popular Mechanics, "Apple Plans a TV Adaptation of Isaac Asimov's Foundation Series," 11 Apr. 2018
Officials now know that session offered an incomplete accounting for just how powerful the internet giants have become.

— philip elliott, Time, "Mark Zuckerberg's Testimony on Cambridge Analytica Could Backfire on Congress," 9 Apr. 2018
Indianapolis has taken a giant step in the running for a second North American headquarters for the tech giant called Amazon HQ2.

— justin l. mack, Indianapolis Star, "Amazon HQ2: Everything you need to know as Indianapolis awaits an answer," 4 Apr. 2018
Germany’s sweeping sanctions on tech giants don’t meet any of these conditions.

— yascha mounk, The New Republic, "Germany’s risky law for stopping hate speech on Facebook and Twitter," 3 Apr. 2018
The internet giant hired nearly 130,000 people globally last year, excluding its acquisitions, chief among them, Whole Foods.

— alyssa newcomb /, NBC News, "Is President Trump right about Amazon? Here's a reality check," 29 Mar. 2018
The internet giant collects sales taxes on its own products in all 45 states that have one, but third-party vendors who sell products on the site often do not collect sales tax, a fact that rivals say is unfair.

— michael d. shear, nick wingfield and cecilia kang, New York Times, "Trump Attacks Amazon, Saying It Does Not Pay Enough Taxes," 29 Mar. 2018

These example sentences are selected automatically from various online news sources to reflect current usage of the word 'giant.' Views expressed in the examples do not represent the opinion of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback.

Origin and Etymology of giant

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

NEW! Time Traveler

First Known Use: 14th century

in the meaning defined at sense 1

See Words from the same year

giant Synonyms

giant

adjective

Definition of giant

: having extremely large size, proportion, or power

See giant defined for English-language learners

Examples of giant in a Sentence

a giant-size box of detergent
the giant sycamore tree that dwarfs our house is almost 250 years old

Recent Examples of giant from the Web

French materials giant Compagnie de Saint-Gobain SA has a similar electrochromatic product called SageGlass.

— jaclyn gallucci, Fortune, "Airports Are Using ‘Smart Glass’ to Make You Spend More Money," 17 Apr. 2018
In May 2003, President George W. Bush stood on an aircraft carrier under a giant ‘‘Mission Accomplished’’ banner and declared that ‘‘major combat operations in Iraq have ended’’ — just six weeks after the invasion.

— catherine lucey, BostonGlobe.com, "Bush was haunted by his own ‘Mission Accomplished’," 14 Apr. 2018
Meanwhile an evil brother and sister (Jake Lacy and Malin Akerman) run a giant bio-tech company that is working on genetic experiments so dangerous they must be conducted in space (because, hey, nothing ever goes wrong up there).

— bill goodykoontz, azcentral, "'Rampage' is so bad, you don't even need a brain to watch it," 11 Apr. 2018
The company ranks behind tech giants Amazon, which spent $13 million on lobbying in 2017, and Alphabet, which spent $18 million that same year, ranking the search giant eighth among all companies, according to the Center for Responsive Politics.

— Philly.com, "Why those who have followed Facebook aren't sure Zuckerberg is sincere," 10 Apr. 2018
But that’s going to be a tough task, given Silicon Valley’s tendency toward giant, open college-like campuses, which are generally designed to be fun, welcoming spaces.

— recode staff, Recode, "Recode Daily: Josh James’ once-secretive Utah-based startup Domo is finally moving toward an IPO," 6 Apr. 2018
La Colombe, which operates cafes and sells bottled and canned coffees, would be the latest craft coffee brand to get scooped up by a giant beverage company.

— Bloomberg.com, "La Colombe Hires Moelis in Bid for $1 Billion Valuation," 3 Apr. 2018
The giant net-like telescope produced enough data to fill 700 feet of paper each week.

— lorraine boissoneault, Smithsonian, "50 Years Ago, a Grad Student’s Discovery Changed the Course of Astrophysics," 1 Mar. 2018
The story of an actress nipping at Beyoncé, as told to GQ by one Tiffany Haddish, has turned the internet in one, giant, amoeba-like detective.

— rebecca farley, refinery29.com, "American Crime Story: Who Bit Beyoncé," 28 Mar. 2018

First Known Use of giant

15th century

in the meaning defined above

See Words from the same year

NEW! Time Traveler

giant Synonyms

Synonyms

astronomical (also astronomic), bumper, colossal, cosmic (also cosmical), elephantine, enormous, galactic, gargantuan, gigantic, grand, herculean, heroic (also heroical), huge, humongous (also humungous), immense, jumbo, king-size (or king-sized), leviathan, mammoth, massive, mega, mighty, monster, monstrous, monumental, mountainous, oceanic, planetary, prodigious, super, supersize, supersized, titanic, tremendous, vast, vasty, walloping, whacking, whopping;

Antonyms

bantam, bitty, diminutive, infinitesimal, little bitty, micro, microminiature, microscopic (also microscopical), midget, miniature, minuscule, minute, pocket, pygmy, teensy, teensy-weensy, teeny, teeny-weeny, tiny, wee;

Near Antonyms

little, mini, petite, pint-size (or pint-sized), puny, small, smallish, undersized (also undersize);

dinky, dwarfish, half-pint;

august, formidable, grandiose, imposing, lofty, majestic;

cavernous, monolithic, overwhelming, staggering, stupendous, towering;

boundless, immeasurable, infinite;

GIANT Defined for English Language Learners

giant

noun

Definition of giant for English Language Learners

: a legendary creature usually thought of as being an extremely large and powerful person
: a person or thing that is very large, powerful, or successful