Definition of LEVIATHAN

Did You Know?

Old Testament references to a huge sea monster, Leviathan (in Hebrew, Liwyāthān), are thought to spring from an ancient myth in which the god Baal slays a multiheaded sea monster. Leviathan appears in the book of Psalms, as a sea serpent that is killed by God and then given as food to the Hebrews in the wilderness, and it is referred to in the book of Job as well. We began equating Leviathan with the political state after the philosopher Thomas Hobbes used the word in (and as the title of) his 1651 political treatise on government. Today, Leviathan often suggests a crushing political bureaucracy. Leviathan can also be immensely useful as a general term meaning "something monstrous or of enormous size."

Examples of leviathan in a Sentence

The factory is a towering leviathan in the middle of the town. a leviathan of the seas, that cruise ship is said to be the largest passenger vessel afloat

Recent Examples on the Web

The Trump administration takes this reshuffle to be a simple exercise in removing tentacles from the bureaucratic leviathan. — The Economist, "Remaking the federal government," 28 June 2018 These tensions arose almost as soon as publication began, as the magazine confronted the leviathan of American slavery. — Annika Neklason, The Atlantic, "160 Years of the American Idea," 27 June 2018 But perhaps by finding more of these leviathans, scientists can unlock the ancient mysteries of the sea. — Julissa Treviño, Smithsonian, "Why Did Most Massive Bony Fish Behemoths Die Out?," 4 June 2018 The benign leviathans can be found in equatorial waters all over the globe, but a recent paper published in the journal Marine Biodiversity Records focuses on a single organism, first sighted off the west coast of Panama. — Ryan P. Smith, Smithsonian, "What the Longest Known Whale Shark Migration Ever Tells Us About Conservation," 8 May 2018 Similar to whales found off of Australia and Chile, New Zealand’s whales are slightly smaller than the 100-foot leviathans that migrate to arctic waters. — Jason Daley, Smithsonian, "Hundreds of Blue Whales Are Permanent Residents Off New Zealand’s Coasts," 18 May 2018 What can regular users, civic-minded voters with earnest political values, do to keep from getting rolled by the online leviathan or the hucksters swimming around inside of it? — Gregory Krieg, CNN, "Don't want to get rolled on Facebook? Know your own politics.," 10 Apr. 2018 The goal of the anti-monopoly movement should be to tame corporate leviathans through the rule of law, by introducing new regulations or using anti-trust laws to break them up. — Jeet Heer, The New Republic, "Trump’s Amazon Trap," 4 Apr. 2018 Many Republicans think the federal government isn’t just a problem, but a leviathan that needs to be slain. — James Hohmann, Washington Post, "The Daily 202: Seven takeaways from the failed Democratic government shutdown," 23 Jan. 2018

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