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
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 mastodon
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
Guests can take a boat tour to learn more about the area’s history — which stretches back thousands of years to early Native Americans and mastodons — or stay overnight in the Wakulla Springs Lodge, which dates back to 1937.
—Patrick Connolly, The Orlando Sentinel, 1 Aug. 2025
The landmass used to host multiple forms of mammoths, mastodons, giant ground sloths, enormous armadillos, multiple species of sabercat, huge bison, dire wolves and many more large creatures that formed ancient ecosystems unlike anything on our planet today.
—Riley Black, Smithsonian Magazine, 11 July 2025
Researchers think the wide-open balds were created by grazing animals, first by mastodons and woolly mammoths, and later by deer and elk.
—Elisabeth Kwak-Hefferan, Outside Online, 6 June 2025
See All Example Sentences for mastodon
Laura Bassett, Condé Nast Traveler, 21 Aug. 2025
Guests can take a boat tour to learn more about the area’s history — which stretches back thousands of years to early Native Americans and mastodons — or stay overnight in the Wakulla Springs Lodge, which dates back to 1937.
—Patrick Connolly, The Orlando Sentinel, 1 Aug. 2025
The landmass used to host multiple forms of mammoths, mastodons, giant ground sloths, enormous armadillos, multiple species of sabercat, huge bison, dire wolves and many more large creatures that formed ancient ecosystems unlike anything on our planet today.
—Riley Black, Smithsonian Magazine, 11 July 2025
Researchers think the wide-open balds were created by grazing animals, first by mastodons and woolly mammoths, and later by deer and elk.
—Elisabeth Kwak-Hefferan, Outside Online, 6 June 2025
See All Example Sentences for mastodon
Recent Examples of Synonyms for mastodon
Noun
-
The 80-foot-long grinning behemoth floating in a roadside pond was built as an anniversary gift for the owner’s whale-loving wife.—
Zoey Goto,
Travel + Leisure,
8 Mar. 2026
-
In addition to a long music career, McDonald remained politically active, advocating on behalf of saving the whales and helping Vietnam War veterans.—
Daniel Kreps,
Rolling Stone,
8 Mar. 2026
Noun
-
The plastic dinosaur is attached to a cap — its head in the front and its tail in the back.—
Carlos Aguilar,
Los Angeles Times,
10 Mar. 2026
-
The next theme, coming this summer, will be dinosaur-related, said Library Executive Director Lindsey Dorfman.—
Jennifer Johnson,
Chicago Tribune,
10 Mar. 2026
Noun
-
Elon Musk moved the head offices of his other companies — SpaceX and X — to Texas in 2024, as did Chevron, the oil giant that was started in California.—
Los Angeles Times,
Los Angeles Times,
11 Mar. 2026
-
New high-solution sonar images captured by aerospace giant Northrop Grumman have revealed the ironclad USS Monitor retains significant details, despite sitting more than 160 years on the seabed.—
Mark Price,
Charlotte Observer,
10 Mar. 2026
Noun
-
The Bride not looking like a monster and retaining her desirability after reanimation is common, but only sometimes interrogated.—
Rory Doherty,
Time,
7 Mar. 2026
-
Whale, and later fellow directors Franc Rodman, Branagh and now Gyllenhaal, imagined what might have happened if Frankenstein had completed the female monster.—
Leah Dolan,
CNN Money,
6 Mar. 2026
Noun
-
Surviving Earth explores the world 450M years ago featuring giant sea scorpions, mammoths and sabertooths.—
Peter White,
Deadline,
12 Mar. 2026
-
Unlike typical mice with short gray-brown coats, these woolly mice have long dirty-blond hair that mimics the shaggy fur that helped protect mammoths from the Arctic cold.—
Rob Stein,
NPR,
4 Mar. 2026
Noun
-
The elephant is that the real AI TAM [total addressable market] is labor, all $60 trillion of it globally.—
Lisa Kailai Han,
CNBC,
10 Mar. 2026
-
Since 2003 there has been a 16 percent average annual increase in the numbers of lions and an average 7 percent for elephants, and a general fivefold jump in nonmigrating herbivores.—
Tom Vanderbilt,
Condé Nast Traveler,
10 Mar. 2026
Cite this Entry
“Mastodon.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/mastodon. Accessed 15 Mar. 2026.
Copy CitationLove words? Need even more definitions?
Merriam-Webster unabridged
