as in whale
something or someone that is unusually large and powerful
mom-and-pop stores just can't compete with these mastodons of retailing
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Recent Examples of mastodon
Ground sloths and mastodons are linked to forest habitats.
—
Hanna Wickes,
Fort Worth Star-Telegram,
29 Mar. 2026
For example, utility workers once uncovered an ancient bone fragment from a mastodon.
—
Alice Gibbs,
MSNBC Newsweek,
16 Sep. 2025
The frieze, estimated to be about 12,500 years old, depicts massive ice age beasts thought to have once roamed South America, including mastodons and ground sloths the size of a car.
—
Laura Bassett,
Condé Nast Traveler,
21 Aug. 2025
This was an important clue to a developing theory that grazing megafauna—such as the extinct mammoths and mastodons that once roamed the southern Appalachians—may have played a role.
—
Mike Bezemek,
Smithsonian Magazine,
10 July 2025
See All Example Sentences for mastodon
Hanna Wickes,
Fort Worth Star-Telegram,
29 Mar. 2026
For example, utility workers once uncovered an ancient bone fragment from a mastodon.
—
Alice Gibbs,
MSNBC Newsweek,
16 Sep. 2025
The frieze, estimated to be about 12,500 years old, depicts massive ice age beasts thought to have once roamed South America, including mastodons and ground sloths the size of a car.
—
Laura Bassett,
Condé Nast Traveler,
21 Aug. 2025
This was an important clue to a developing theory that grazing megafauna—such as the extinct mammoths and mastodons that once roamed the southern Appalachians—may have played a role.
—
Mike Bezemek,
Smithsonian Magazine,
10 July 2025
See All Example Sentences for mastodon
Recent Examples of Synonyms for mastodon
Noun
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Like all large whales, the NOAA said fin whales were hunted by commercial whalers and their populations were decimated.
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Its charming downtown is full of art galleries, museums, restaurants, and tourism operators offering whale watching and sea kayaking.
Noun
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The sculptor has designed giant dinosaurs and monuments to his country’s independence heroes in Cutral Co, an oil-producing town that has never attracted nearly as much attention as other Patagonian communities surrounded by picturesque lakes and mountains.
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As anyone knows on the digital side of things, waiting half a year to make orders that respond to live customer action data makes for lags as long as dinosaur legs.
Noun
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Through a series of measures starting in 2022, Washington has cut off China’s access to the cutting-edge GPUs, throttling Chinese companies’ efforts in competing for the top AI models with US tech giants.
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Some plan to do so especially using solar and nuclear, including tech giants Amazon and Google.
Noun
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Then, one weekend about three years ago, Meledandri called with an idea — a Minion who sets out to make a monster movie.
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The women’s Cloudmonster Shoe fittingly packs a monster-sized amount of cushioning.
Noun
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According to this theory, those now-extinct megafauna—the giant ground sloths and the giant beavers, the mastodons and mammoths, and even the lions and dire wolves—were relatively quickly hunted to extinction.
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When Colossal Biosciences raises capital at a $10 billion valuation, investors are not betting on the mammoth.
Noun
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Then the babydoll-sized elephant walked into the room.
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The arrangement included exclusive access to the sanctuary’s conservation team, where the couple learned about elephant rehabilitation efforts and participated in feeding and bathing the elephants—an intimate and unforgettable experience.
Cite this Entry
“Mastodon.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/mastodon. Accessed 27 Jun. 2026.
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