leviathan

noun

le·​vi·​a·​than li-ˈvī-ə-thən 

1

a

often capitalized : a sea monster defeated by Yahweh in various scriptural accounts

b

: a large sea animal

this leviathan of animals is the great Blue Whale

—Weston LaBarre

2

capitalized : the political state

especially : a totalitarian state having a vast bureaucracy

3

: something large or formidable

that leviathan of international corporations

leviathan adjective

Did you know?

Old Testament references to a huge sea monster, Leviathan (in Hebrew, Liwyāthān), are thought to come from an ancient myth in which the god Baal slays a multiheaded sea monster. Leviathan appears in the Book of Psalms, as a sea serpent that is killed by God and then given as food to creatures in the wilderness, and it is mentioned in the Book of Job as well. Today, its name is used for "something monstrous or of enormous size."

Synonyms

• behemoth
• blockbuster
• colossus
• dinosaur
• dreadnought
• elephant
• giant
• Goliath
• jumbo
• mammoth
• mastodon
• monster
• titan
• whale
• whopper

Examples of leviathan in a Sentence

The factory is a towering leviathan in the middle of the town.

a leviathan of the seas, that cruise ship is said to be the largest passenger vessel afloat

Recent Examples on the Web

In early 2024, the selling group, an alliance of Wall Street leviathan Goldman Sachs as well as the respected and veteran real estate firm Hines, began to scout for prospective buyers. —George Avalos, The Mercury News, 4 June 2024

Clara, a 6-foot-6 leviathan who the Ducks selected in the second round of the 2023 NHL Draft (60th overall), climbed the draft board and has only seen his stock rise since last summer. —Andrew Knoll, Orange County Register, 3 June 2024

Recently, the landscape has offered further validation that preindustrial Icelanders regularly killed and harvested these leviathans. —Andrew Chapman, Smithsonian Magazine, 23 May 2024

The values that the anarchists had been championing — a return to a more egalitarian society liberated from the twin leviathans of Big Government and Big Capital — largely disappeared from mainstream political conversation over the subsequent century. —Steven Johnson, New York Times, 17 May 2024

Word History

Etymology

Middle English, from Late Latin, from Hebrew liwyāthān

First Known Use

14th century, in the meaning defined at sense 1a

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Kids Definition

leviathan

noun

le·​vi·​a·​than li-ˈvī-ə-thən 

1

often capitalized : a sea monster often standing for evil in the Old Testament and Christian literature

2

: something very large or powerful of its kind