as in whale
something or someone that is unusually large and powerful
by any standard, the new shopping mall will be an elephant and one that is certain to alter the retail landscape
Synonyms & Similar Words
Relevance
Antonyms & Near Antonyms
Example Sentences
Examples are automatically compiled from online sources to
show current usage.
Read More
Opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors.
Send us feedback.
Recent Examples of elephant
Other live cameras monitoring elephants, lions and naked mole-rats also remain active during the shutdown.
—
Sudiksha Kochi, USA Today, 2 Oct. 2025
Analysis of loop-like bag openings found in female graves from the fifth to seventh century revealed that these were made from African elephant ivory.
—Duncan Sayer, JSTOR Daily, 2 Oct. 2025
Enormous driftwood trees are scattered along the shore, producing a scene that’s often compared to an elephant boneyard.
—Lydia Mansel, Travel + Leisure, 30 Sep. 2025
One Pasteurella-like microbe carried genetic hints of virulence and has ties to deadly outbreaks in modern African elephants.
—Pranjal Malewar, New Atlas, 30 Sep. 2025
See All Example Sentences for elephant
Sudiksha Kochi, USA Today, 2 Oct. 2025
Analysis of loop-like bag openings found in female graves from the fifth to seventh century revealed that these were made from African elephant ivory.
—Duncan Sayer, JSTOR Daily, 2 Oct. 2025
Enormous driftwood trees are scattered along the shore, producing a scene that’s often compared to an elephant boneyard.
—Lydia Mansel, Travel + Leisure, 30 Sep. 2025
One Pasteurella-like microbe carried genetic hints of virulence and has ties to deadly outbreaks in modern African elephants.
—Pranjal Malewar, New Atlas, 30 Sep. 2025
See All Example Sentences for elephant
Recent Examples of Synonyms for elephant
Noun
-
His landscapes are muddy and void, prone to sudden invasion by disturbing strangers, including the giant whale carcass that arrives on a train at the beginning of his 1989 novel, The Melancholy of Resistance.—
Walt Hunter,
The Atlantic,
9 Oct. 2025
-
Humpback whales were once hunted nearly to extinction, but a moratorium on commercial whaling in 1985 allowed the species to make a comeback, according to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration.—
Irene Wright,
Miami Herald,
9 Oct. 2025
Noun
-
Consider the two-year cycle of Moore’s Law, which changed the world and inspired new corporate giants while dooming others.—
Geoff Colvin,
Fortune,
10 Oct. 2025
-
Prizegivers have also in the past been accused of being snobbish, of having an anti-American bias and of ignoring some of the giants of literature, including Russia's Lev Nikolayevich Tolstoy, France's Emile Zola and Ireland's James Joyce.—
Simon Johnson,
USA Today,
9 Oct. 2025
Noun
-
Benjamin was killed while wearing a dinosaur costume.—
Amanda Castro,
MSNBC Newsweek,
3 Oct. 2025
-
From the Elgol dinosaur to the Krusatodon or the world’s largest pterosaur fossil from the Jurassic period, fossils found here have shaped our understanding of the prehistoric world.—
Irene Wright,
Miami Herald,
3 Oct. 2025
Noun
-
Their 7-3 win over the Cubs in Game 2 of the other NLDS matchup was powered solely by three monster home runs.—
Chris Branch,
New York Times,
7 Oct. 2025
-
Season 3 picks up with the Monster Association arc, as S-class heroes band together to rescue a hostage taken by monsters claiming affiliation with the villainous organization.—
Naman Ramachandran,
Variety,
7 Oct. 2025
Noun
-
With these tools, scientists may one day trace how microbes and mammoths co-evolved.—
Pranjal Malewar,
New Atlas,
30 Sep. 2025
-
One likes to imagine Paleo Dad loping across the savannah in hot pursuit of a wooly mammoth.—
Inga,
San Diego Union-Tribune,
29 Sep. 2025
Cite this Entry
“Elephant.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/elephant. Accessed 14 Oct. 2025.
Copy CitationLove words? Need even more definitions?
Merriam-Webster unabridged
Share