as in magnitude
the quality or state of being very large
the American taste for giantism: big cars, big houses, big servings of food
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Recent Examples of giantism
Brontotheres, the ancient North American ancestors of the horse, is a giantism outlier as—growing from around 40 pounds to four to five tons in 16 million years.
—
Darren Orf, Popular Mechanics, 16 May 2023
In an especially mind-bending passage, Wengrow and Graeber show that the majority of Paleolithic tombs contained not grandees but individuals with physical anomalies including dwarfism, giantism, and spinal abnormalities.
—Virginia Heffernan, Wired, 11 July 2022
The researchers think the parrot evolved this way because of a phenomenon known as autapomorphic giantism, in which a member of an otherwise moderately sized group becomes humongous by taking over an empty ecological niche.
—Cara Giaimo, New York Times, 6 Aug. 2019
The extraordinary success of the giant three-ring circus gave rise to other forms of exportable American giantism, such as amusement parks, department stores, and shopping malls.
—Janet M. Davis, Smithsonian, 22 Mar. 2017
Darren Orf, Popular Mechanics, 16 May 2023
In an especially mind-bending passage, Wengrow and Graeber show that the majority of Paleolithic tombs contained not grandees but individuals with physical anomalies including dwarfism, giantism, and spinal abnormalities.
—Virginia Heffernan, Wired, 11 July 2022
The researchers think the parrot evolved this way because of a phenomenon known as autapomorphic giantism, in which a member of an otherwise moderately sized group becomes humongous by taking over an empty ecological niche.
—Cara Giaimo, New York Times, 6 Aug. 2019
The extraordinary success of the giant three-ring circus gave rise to other forms of exportable American giantism, such as amusement parks, department stores, and shopping malls.
—Janet M. Davis, Smithsonian, 22 Mar. 2017
Recent Examples of Synonyms for giantism
Noun
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Right now, the comet is hovering just below magnitude +6, according to the Comet Observation database, so already technically on the edge of naked-eye visibility under very dark night skies.—
Jamie Carter,
Space.com,
10 Apr. 2026
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The magnitude of that benefit could have significant implications for how widely the drug will be used, and how the company’s stock will react to its late-stage data.—
Angelica Peebles,
CNBC,
10 Apr. 2026
Noun
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On one hand, her work includes deeply compassionate photographs of carnival performers, strippers, nudists, gender-nonconforming people, people with developmental disabilities, and people with both dwarfism and gigantism.—
Tony Bravo,
San Francisco Chronicle,
3 Apr. 2026
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Whatever showy gigantism the Kennedy Center was burdened with at the start, there will almost surely be more of it after he’s done.—
Christopher Robbins,
Curbed,
9 Feb. 2026
Noun
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The majesty of the natural world and the incomprehensible vastness of space are almost infinitely rearrangeable variables for documentarians.—
David Faris,
TheWeek,
13 Apr. 2026
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Launch is planned for July 2028, and Dragonfly will cruise for six years, plying the empty vastness between our two worlds.—
Phil Plait,
Scientific American,
10 Apr. 2026
Noun
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Nowhere in the vestiges of what was once the sprawl of corporate hugeness known as The General Electric Company are there signs that Katharine Blodgett's laboratory notebooks still exist.—
Natalia Sánchez Loayza,
Scientific American,
13 Mar. 2026
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Like Phish or Taylor Swift or The Dead, 21P have created a universe for their fans that is a self-sustaining mechanism, even if the hugeness of it doesn’t always translate into huge chart success.—
Gil Kaufman,
Billboard,
23 Sep. 2025
Noun
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The immensity of joining the franchise meant that choosing a jersey number wasn’t something Durbin took lightly.—
Gabrielle Starr,
Boston Herald,
27 Mar. 2026
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Shaboozey Shaboozey was in awe of the immensity of his RodeoHouston debut and mentioned it throughout the show.—
Joey Guerra,
Houston Chronicle,
23 Mar. 2026
Cite this Entry
“Giantism.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/giantism. Accessed 16 Apr. 2026.
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