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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Example Sentences
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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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But none of them came anywhere near the genocide of 2023–25 in terms of magnitude, severity and sheer brutality.—
Literary Hub,
Literary Hub,
10 Nov. 2025
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Excluding disasters, sudden surges of this magnitude in requests for food or any other need are rare at 211s, and can signal both public worry and need, as happened in the first weeks of the COVID-19 pandemic.—
Matthew W. Kreuter,
CNN Money,
8 Nov. 2025
Noun
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In April, Gabriel was diagnosed with gigantism, caused by high levels of growth hormone.—
Susan Young,
PEOPLE,
29 Oct. 2025
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Cut off from outside populations, Rome’s freshwater crabs developed a form of gigantism.—
Krista Langlois,
Smithsonian Magazine,
7 July 2025
Noun
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The woman used her headlamp light to alert crews and in a photo of the mountain her location can be seen as a white point of light in the vastness of the peak.—
Alan Gionet,
CBS News,
8 Jan. 2026
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Michael Sutton, a redevelopment coordinator, has attributed the vastness of the land bank, particularly in northeast Wyandotte, to 20th century redlining and southward and westward flight of the county’s white, wealthy and middle class families.—
Chris Higgins,
Kansas City Star,
30 Dec. 2025
Noun
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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
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Hawley, who directed the premiere, brings an impressive sense of scale to the action, conveying the hugeness of the spaceship and its urban crash zone, contrasted with the smallness of the figures trying to make their way through the mayhem.—
Noel Murray,
Vulture,
13 Aug. 2025
Noun
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McCall urged survivors and others still grappling with the immensity of the tragedy to seek help themselves.—
Marlene Lenthang,
NBC news,
5 Dec. 2025
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To get at that immensity, Bell advances seven core arguments that encompass migration, the war’s human cost, the improbability of its outcome, naval power, trade, imperial crackdowns in other colonies and the spread of liberty.—
Maren Longbella,
Boston Herald,
28 Nov. 2025
Cite this Entry
“Giantism.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/giantism. Accessed 12 Jan. 2026.
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