gargantuan

adjective

gar·gan·tuan gär-ˈgan(t)-sh(ə-)wən

often capitalized

Synonyms of gargantuan next

: tremendous in size, volume, or degree : gigantic, colossal

gargantuan waterfalls

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

a creature of gargantuan proportions people seem to be buying ever more gargantuan SUVs these days

Recent Examples on the Web

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.

Despite the gargantuan size, the coral has never been documented. —

Laura Baisas, Popular Science, 14 Nov. 2024 At the cockroach, at the gargantuan goldfish, at the one and only Carmelita Tropicana! —

Sara Holdren, Vulture, 10 Nov. 2024 In exchange, however, AI is also requiring gargantuan amounts of energy from the electric grid. —

Abhay Gupta, Forbes, 4 Nov. 2024 But Blake is also the aquarium’s largest fully grown penguin, and his genetics can partially explain Pesto’s gargantuan size. —

Sarah Kuta, Smithsonian Magazine, 1 Nov. 2024 See all Example Sentences for gargantuan