Did you know?
Gargantua is the name of a giant king in François Rabelais's 16th-century satiric novel Gargantua, the second part of a five-volume series about the giant and his son Pantagruel. All of the details of Gargantua's life befit a giant. He rides a colossal mare whose tail switches so violently that it fells the entire forest of Orleans. He has an enormous appetite, such that in one incident he inadvertently swallows five pilgrims while eating a salad. The scale of everything connected with Gargantua led to the adjective gargantuan, which since William Shakespeare's time has been used for anything of tremendous size or volume.
Examples of gargantuan in a Sentence
Tim Ellis, Forbes.com, 1 May 2025
That isn’t to say she’s abandoned the gargantuan set pieces and numerous chic costume changes of tours past.
—Melissa Ruggieri, USA Today, 30 Apr. 2025
Turning base runners into runs has been the gargantuan task.
—Mitch Bannon, New York Times, 28 Apr. 2025
As their revenues and market capitalizations have reached gargantuan scale, the Apples and Microsofts of the world have become so mature and so profitable that their future growth rate prospects have significantly diminished (much like what happened to Chevron decades earlier).
—Jenny Van Leeuwen Harrington, CNBC, 8 Apr. 2025
See All Example Sentences for gargantuan
Cite this Entry
“Gargantuan.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/gargantuan. Accessed 11 May. 2025.
Copy CitationKids Definition
gargantuan
adjective
from Gargantua, a giant with an enormous appetite in books by the French author François Rabelais
Share