Copyright © Philip M. Parker, INSEAD. Terms of Use.
Definition: Gigantic |
GiganticAdjective1. So exceedingly large or extensive as to suggest a giant or mammoth; "a gigantic redwood"; "gigantic disappointment"; "a mammoth ship"; "a mammoth multinational corporation". Source: WordNet 1.7.1 Copyright © 2001 by Princeton University. All rights reserved. |
Date "gigantic" was first used in popular English literature: sometime before 1550. (references) |
Etymology: Gigantic \Gi*gan"tic\, adjective. [Latin expression gigas, -antis, giant. See Giant.]. (references) |
(From Wikipedia, the free Encyclopedia)
Giants are humanoid creatures of prodigious size and strength, a type of legendary monster that appear in the tales of many different races and cultures. They are often stupid or violent and are frequently said to eat humans, especially children; others, like Oscar Wilde's giants, are intelligent and friendly.
The Cyclopes of Homer's Odyssey were giants, as was Goliath who strove with King David in the Bible. The Bible also records a race of giants whose name is now usually translated "Nephilim;" these are the giants meant when the book Genesis observes that "There were giants in the earth in those days; and also after that, when the sons of God came in unto the daughters of men and they bore children to them, the same became mighty men who were of old, men of renown." (Gen. 6:4 KJV)
In Germanic mythologies, giants are often opposed to the gods. In particular, the Wodin/Odin-derived mythologies of Northern Europe feature frost giants, who are eternally opposed to the Aesir. The Aesir themselves emerged from the race of giants, and in the eventual, apocalyptic battle of Ragnarok the frost giants will storm Asgard, home of the gods, and defeat the gods in war, bringing about the end of the world. In the mature form of this mythology recorded in the Edda poetry and prose, giants inter-marry with the gods and are the origin of most of the monsters in Nordic mythology (e.g. the Fenris Wolf), but relations between the Aesir and the giants are sometimes cordial and sometimes adversarial.
Tales of combat with giants were a common feature in the folklore of Wales and Ireland. From here, giants got into Breton and Arthurianian romances, and from this source they spread into the heroic tales of Torquato Tasso, Ludovico Ariosto, and their follower Edmund Spenser. The giant Despair appears in John Bunyan's Pilgrim's Progress. Norse and Anglo-Saxon mythology are also rich in tales of giants, which seem there to be a separate race akin to the gods, and strove often with Thor. Ogres and trolls are giant-like humanoid creatures that occur in various sorts of European folklore.
Giants figure in a great many fairy tales and folklore stories, such as Jack and the beanstalk.
Examples of giants
Origin of the Belief in Giants It is possible that tales of giants derive from the remains of previous civilizations. Saxo Grammaticus, for example, argues that giants had to exist, because nothing else would explain the large walls, stone monuments, and statues that we know were the remains of Roman construction. Similarly, the Anglo-Saxon "Seafarer" speaks of the high stone walls that were the work of giants. Giants provided the least complicated explanation for such artifacts.
- The Gigantes and Titans in Greek mythology.
- Goliath in the biblical story of David.
- St Christopher, from Roman Catholicism
- Jotuns in Norse mythology.
- Gogmagog, from the legendary lore of Britain
"Giant" is also colloquially used for a human who is unusually tall, or afflicted with one of the several forms of gigantism.
See also Giantess.
Source: adapted by the editor from Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia under a copyleft GNU Free Documentation License (GFDL) from the article "Giant (mythology)."
Synonym: GiganticSynonym: mammoth (adj). (additional references) |
| Context | Synonyms within Context (source: adapted from Roget's Thesaurus). |
Greatness | Greatly; Adjective: much, muckle, well, indeed, very, very much, a deal, no end of, most, not a little; pretty, pretty well; enough, in a great measure, richly; to a large extent, to a great extent, to a gigantic extent; on a large scale; so; never so, ever so; ever so dole; scrap, shred, tag, splinter, rag, much; by wholesale; mighty, powerfully; with a witness, ultra, in the extreme, extremely, exceedingly, intensely, exquisitely, acutely, indefinitely, immeasurably; beyond compare, beyond comparison, beyond measure, beyond all bounds; incalculably, infinitely. |
Height | Adjective: high, elevated, eminent, exalted, lofty, tall; gigantic; (big); Patagonian; towering, beetling, soaring, hanging; elevated; upper; highest; (topmost); high reaching, |
Size | Huge, immense, enormous, mighty; vast, vasty; amplitudinous, stupendous; monster, monstrous, humongous, monumental; elephantine, jumbo, mammoth; gigantic, gigantean, giant, giant like, prodigious, colossal, Cyclopean, Brobdingnagian, Bunyanesque, Herculean, Gargantuan; infinite. |
Strength | Able-bodied; athletic; Herculean, Cyclopean, Atlantean; muscular, brawny, wiry, well-knit, broad-shouldered, sinewy, strapping, stalwart, gigantic. |
| Source: adapted from Roget's Thesaurus. | |
| Domain | Usage | |
Screenplays | Both my wife and daughter think I'm this gigantic loser and they're right, I have lost something (American Beauty; writing credit: Alan Ball) My own stools, Sir, are gigantic and have no more odor than a hot biscuit (The Road to Wellville; writing credit: Alan Parker) You do a dance, you gigantic, lucky bastard (Everybody Loves Raymond; writing credit: Joe Bolster) It looks like the tongue of some gigantic demon (The Man Who Skied Down Everest; writing credit: Kyle Onstott; Jack Kirkland) I don't often say this, but you three are the most beautiful gigantic ladies I've ever laid eyes upon (Futurama; writing credit: Lance Smith; Carl Colpaert) | |
Source: compiled by the editor from various references; see credits. | ||
| Domain | Title |
Books | |
Theater & Movies | |
Music |
|
Source: compiled by the editor from various references; see credits. | |
| Thumbnail | Description & Credit | Thumbnail | Description & Credit |
 | Resembling a gigantic hubcap in space, a 3,700-light-year-wide dust disk encircles a ... Credit: NASA. |  | I turned and saw a gigantic elk. Credit: Library of Congress. |
 | The gigantic ocean-going fleet submarine, the V-4, anchored at the Washington Navy Yard. Credit: Library of Congress. |  | Gigantic testing machines use actual planes in efforts to make flying safer / Underwood & Underwood, Washington. Credit: Library of Congress. |
 | Gigantic glacier system that drains the northeastern face of Mt. McKinley. Credit: Library of Congress. |  | Production. Magnesium. Workmen seventy feet above ground are busily engaged in adding to the already gigantic proportions of Basic Magnesium's plant in the southern Nevada desert. A 24-hour production schedule results in turning out great quantities of ma. Credit: Library of Congress. |
 | Imre Kiralfy's gigantic aquatic historical spectacle, Venice, the bride of the sea at Olympia. Credit: Library of Congress. |  | Royal Lilliputians a gigantic organisation of lilliputians, dwarfes, midgets, and giants. Credit: Library of Congress. |
Source: pictures compiled by the editor from various references; see picture credits. | |||
 |
| "Bamboo" by Warisara N. Commentary: "Gigantic bamboo in Umphang, Tak (Province), Thailand. I found on the way to Te-lo-so fall." |
Source: photographs selected by the editor, with permission from the photographers. |
| Author | Quotation |
Charles Maurice De Talleyrand | Ones reputation is like a shadow, it is gigantic when it precedes you, and a pigmy in proportion when it follows. |
| The reputation of a man is like his shadow, gigantic when it precedes him, and pigmy in its proportions when it follows. | |
Oscar Wilde | Women love us for our defects. If we have enough of them, they will forgive us everything, even our gigantic intellects. |
Percy Bysshe Shelley | The gigantic shadows which futurity casts upon the present. |
Source: compiled by the editor from various references. | |
| Author | Date | Quotation |
Communist Manifesto | 1848 | Modern bourgeois society with its relations of production, of exchange and of property, a society that has conjured up such gigantic means of production and of exchange, is like the sorcerer, who is no longer able to control the powers of the nether world whom he has called up by his spells. (reference) |
Source: compiled by the editor from various references. | ||
| Title | Author | Quote |
Les Miserables | Hugo, Victor | They were gigantic men on colossal horses |
Source: compiled by the editor from various references. | ||
| Subject | Topic | Quote |
Business | An important turning point was reached in 1977 with the discovery of a gigantic gas deposit in Loma de la Lata in the Neuquen Basin. (references) | |
Lexicography | Devil's Dictionary | LEVIATHAN, n. An enormous aquatic animal mentioned by Job. Some suppose it to have been the whale, but that distinguished ichthyologer, Dr. Jordan, of Stanford University, maintains with considerable heat that it was a species of gigantic Tadpole (Thaddeus Polandensis) or Polliwig -- Maria pseudo-hirsuta. For an exhaustive description and history of the Tadpole consult the famous monograph of Jane Potter, Thaddeus of Warsaw. |
Source: compiled by the editor from ICON Group International, Inc.; see credits. | ||
| Speaker | Term | Phrase(s) |
James Monroe | 1817-1825 | In this progress, which the rights of nature demand and nothing can prevent, marking a growth rapid and gigantic, it is our duty to make new efforts for the preservation, improvement, and civilization of the native inhabitants. |
Source: compiled by the editor from various references. | ||
| "Gigantic" is generally used as an adjective (general or positive) -- approximately 99.24% of the time. "Gigantic" is used about 394 times out of a sample of 100 million words spoken or written in English. Its rank is based on over 700,000 words used in the English language. Some parts-of-speech are not covered due to the samples used by the British National Corpus. (note: percents less than one-hundredth of one percent have been omitted) |
| Parts of Speech | Percent | Usage per 100 Million Words | Rank in English |
| Adjective (general or positive) | 99.24% | 391 | 14,189 |
| Noun (proper) | 0.51% | 2 | 245,945 |
| Noun (singular) | 0.25% | 1 | 339,140 |
| Total | 100.00% | 394 | N/A |
Source: compiled by the editor from several corpora; see credits.
Expressions using "gigantic": become gigantic ♦ gigantic crane ♦ gigantic work. Additional references. | |
| Source: compiled by the editor from various references; see credits. |
| The following statistics estimate the number of searches per day across the major English-language search engines as identified by various trade publications. Hyperlinks lead to commercial use of the expression at Amazon.com. |
| Language | Translations for "gigantic"; alternative meanings/domain in parentheses. | |
Albanian | gjigant (abnormal, gargantuan, giant, giantlike, gigantesque, huge, monster). (various references) | |
Arabic | عملاقي (titanic), عظيم (bestead, bulky, eminent, fantastic, grand, great, magnificent, majestic, major, mighty, mogul, sensational, sizable, sublime, terrific), ضخم (astronomic, astronomical, awful, big, bulking, bulky, bull, colossal, colossus, considerable, distend, elephantine, enormous, exaggerate, extend, exuberant, fat, gargantuan, ghastly, giant, goodly, grand, great, handsome, heavy, hefty, heroic, huge, hulking, husky, immense, intense, jumbo, large, leviathan, liberal, mammoth, mass, massive, mighty, monstrous, monumental, mountainous, outsize, oversize, palatial, phenomenal, powerful, prodigious, proud, round, royal, sizable, smart, strapping, strong, stupendous, sublime, swingeing, tall, tidy, titan, titanic, towering, tremendous, vast, voluminous, whacking, whopping). (various references) | |
Bulgarian | гигантски (giant, giantlike, gigantesque, mammoth, oversize). (various references) | |
Chinese | 硕大, 巨大 (enormous, huge, immense, tremendous, very large), 巨 (huge, tremendous, very large). (various references) | |
Czech | gigantický (gigantesque, Titanic), ohromný (dishy, enormous, formidable, great, huge, immense, mean, splendid, stupendous, terrific, towering, tremendous, vast, vasty, whacking), obrovský (colossal, enormous, giant, howling, huge, immense, jumbo, mountainous, Titanic, tremendous, untold, vastly, whacking, whopping). (various references) | |
Dutch | reusachtig (colossal, huge), gigantisch (enormous, huge, immense). (various references) | |
Esperanto | giganta (huge). (various references) | |
Farsi | غول پیکر (Gargantuan, Monstrous). (various references) | |
Finnish | jättiläismäinen (giantlike), jättiläiskokoinen (enormous), jättiläis. (various references) | |
French | gigantesque (gigantesque). (various references) | |
Frisian | gigantysk (huge). (various references) | |
German | gigantisch (colossal, monolithic), riesig (colossal, enormous, enormously, gargantuan, giant, giantly, huge, hugely, immeasurable, immense, immensely, jumbo, mammoth, mammothly, massive, monolithic, monstrous, mountainous, sprawling, tremendous, tremendously, vast, walloping), riesenhaft (giant, giganticly, herculean). (various references) | |
Greek | γιγάντειοσ, γιγανταίος, πελώριοσ (huge, mammoth, monumental, thumping), θεόρατοσ (enormous, giant, huge). (various references) | |
Hebrew | עצום (essence, force, heavy, huge, immense, massive, mighty, strength, thundering, tremendous, vast, walloping, whacking, whopping), ענקי (colossal, enormous, gargantuan, giant, gigantesque, huge, immense, mammoth, stupendous, walloping). (various references) | |
Hungarian | kolosszális (colossal, gigantean, gigantesque, whacking-great), gigantikus (gigantesque), gigászi (gigantean, gigantesque, promethean), óriási (capital, colossal, elephantine, enormous, gargantuan, giant, giantlike, gigantean, gigantesque, grandiose, helluva, huge, immeasurable, immense, jumbo, mammoth, monster, monstrous, mountainous, prodigious, smashing, smashing victory, stupendous, terrific, tremendous, vast, vasty, way-out, whacking, whopping). (various references) | |
Indonesian | maha besar (enormous, fury). (various references) | |
Italian | gigantesco (colossal, enormous, gargantuan, giant, huge, mammoth). (various references) | |
Japanese Kanji | 巨大 (enormous, huge). (various references) | |
Japanese Katakana | きょだい (enormous, huge), かいい (brawny, caring about, impressive, kanji made up of meaningful parts, muscular, strangeness, worrying about). (various references) | |
Korean | 거대한 (Colossal, Enormous, Giant, huge). (various references) | |
Manx | foawragh (Cyclopean, giant, giantlike, hulking, kingsize, vast), feer vooar (colossal, giant, massive, monumental, vast, whopping), buillvollee (colossal, enormous, gargantuan, giant, mammoth). (various references) | |
Norwegian | gigantisk, kjempemessig (giant). (various references) | |
Pig Latin | iganticgay.(various references) | |
Portuguese | gigantesco (bloodcurdling, colossal, gargantuan, giantlike, huge, mammoth, monstrous, titanic). (various references) | |
Romanian | gigantic (colossal, giant, giantlike, huge, mammoth, monster, Titanic, vast), uriaş (astronomic, astronomical, colossal, colossus, elephantine, enormous, giant, giantlike, goliath, huge, immense, infinite, mammoth, mite, monster, monumental, mountainous, ogre, prodigious, strapping, thumping, vast), colosal (astronomic, astronomical, capitally, colossal, colossally, enormous, enormously, grand, huge, jumbo, monster, monstrous, mountain, ocean-wide, smashing, some, strapping, terrible, thundering, vast), ciclopic (cyclopean). (various references) | |
Russian | гигантский (Cyclopean, gargantuan, giant, giantlike, gigantesque, gigantle, jumbo). (various references) | |
Serbo-Croatian | gigantski (cyclopean, giant). (various references) | |
Spanish | gigantesco (gargantuan, giant, gigantesque, mammoth, Titanic). (various references) | |
Swedish | jättelik (enormous, giant, huge, mammoth, Titanic), gigantisk (gargantuan, giant, giantlike, towering). (various references) | |
Thai | มหึมา (giant). (various references) | |
Turkish | kocaman (big, bulky, colossal, cyclopean, elephantine, enormous, fab, frightful, gargantuan, gigantean, gross, huge, hugely, hulking, hulky, jumbo-sized, mammoth, monster, of vast dimensions, prodigious, rousing, tearing, thumping, thundering, tremendous, walloping, whacking, whaling, whopping), devasa (colossal, gargantuan, giant-like, monumental), dev gibi (cyclopean, gargantuan, giantlike, gigantean, huge, hugely, mammoth, Titanic). (various references) | |
Ukrainian | гігантський (giant, gigantesque). (various references) | |
Vietnamese | khổng lồ (colossal, decuman, gargantuan, giantlike, huge, mammoth, monster, thumping, titanesque, titanic), kếch x. (various references) | |
Welsh | cawraidd. (various references) | |
| Source: compiled by the editor from various translation references. | ||
Derivations | |
Words beginning with "gigantic": gigantically. (additional references) | |
| |
"Gigantic" is suggested in spellcheckers for the following: giantish, Gigante, Giganti, Gigantia, gigan-tia, giganticism, giganto. (additional references) | |
| Source: compiled by the editor, based on several corpora (additional references). | |
| # of Phoneme Matches | Pronunciation | Word(s) rhyming with "gigantic" (pronounced jīga"ntik or jīga"nik) |
| 5 | -a" n t i k | antic, frantic, pedantic, romantic, semantic, sycophantic, transatlantic. |
| 4 | -n t i k | authentic, orthodontic, unauthentic. |
| 3 | -t i k | acetic, acoustic, acrobatic, aerobatic, aesthetic, agnostic, alphabetic, altruistic, amniotic, anachronistic, analytic, anesthetic, antagonistic, Antarctic, antibiotic, anticlimactic, antiseptic, aortic, apathetic, apocalyptic, apologetic, apoplectic, aquatic, arctic, aristocratic, arithmetic, aromatic, arthritic, artistic, ascetic, asthmatic, astronautic, asymptomatic, atavistic, atheistic, athletic, attic, autistic, autocratic, automatic, axiomatic, ballistic, bombastic, bureaucratic, capitalistic, catalytic, cathartic, caustic, chaotic, characteristic, charismatic, chauvinistic, chiropractic, cinematic, climactic, climatic, coloristic, cosmetic, critic, cryptic, cultic, cystic, democratic, dendritic, despotic, deterministic, diabetic, diagnostic, diagrammatic, dialectic, diamagnetic, didactic, dietetic, diplomatic, diuretic, dogmatic, domestic, dramatic, drastic, drumstick, dualistic, dynastic, ecclesiastic, eclectic, ecliptic, ecstatic, elastic, electrolytic, electromagnetic, electrostatic, emblematic, emetic, empathetic, emphatic, energetic, enigmatic, enthusiastic, enzymatic, epigenetic, epileptic, erotic, erratic, euphemistic, evangelistic, exotic, expressionistic, extragalactic, fanatic, fantastic, fatalistic, ferromagnetic, feudalistic, fiberoptic, frenetic, futuristic, galactic, genetic, geomagnetic, granitic, gymnastic, halophytic, hectic, hedonistic, hemolytic, hepatic, heretic, hermaphroditic, holistic, homeostatic, homiletic, humanistic, hyperkinetic, hypnotic, iconoclastic, idealistic, idiomatic, idiosyncratic, idiotic, imperialistic, impressionistic, individualistic, inelastic, interscholastic, jingoistic, journalistic, kinesthetic, kinetic, lactic, legalistic, linguistic, logistic, lymphatic, magnetic, majestic, masochistic, materialistic, mathematic, mechanistic, melodramatic, militaristic, monastic, monochromatic, monopolistic, moralistic, mystic, narcissistic, narcotic, nationalistic, naturalistic, neritic, neurotic, novelistic, numismatic, oligopolistic, onomastic, operatic, opportunistic, optic, optimistic, pancreatic, pantheistic, paralytic, paramagnetic, parasitic, parasympathetic, parthenogenetic, paternalistic, pathetic, patriotic, patristic, pectic, peptic, peripatetic, pessimistic, phonetic, phosphatic, plastic, pluralistic, pneumatic, poetic, polytheistic, porphyritic, posttraumatic, pragmatic, primitivistic, prismatic, problematic, programmatic, propagandistic, prophetic, prophylactic, prostatic, prosthetic, psychoanalytic, psychosomatic, psychotherapeutic, psychotic, puristic, quixotic, realistic, relativistic, rheumatic, ritualistic, robotic, rustic, sadistic, sarcastic, schematic, scholastic, semiautomatic, semiotic, sensationalistic, septic, simplistic, skeptic, socialistic, static, statistic, stylistic, surrealistic, symbiotic, sympathetic, symptomatic, synergistic, synthetic, systematic, tactic, technocratic, terroristic, thematic, theocratic, therapeutic, thermoplastic, thrombolytic, traumatic, triptych, unapologetic, uncharacteristic, undemocratic, undiplomatic, unenthusiastic, unpatriotic, unrealistic, unsympathetic, voyeuristic. |
| 5 | -g a" n i k | inorganic, organic. |
| 4 | -a" n i k | botanic, galvanic, germanic, manic, mechanic, messianic, oceanic, panic, satanic, Titanic, transoceanic, tympanic, volcanic. |
| 3 | -n i k | allophonic, arsenic, avionic, beatnik, bubonic, calisthenic, carcinogenic, catatonic, chronic, clinic, conic, cynic, demonic, diatonic, Dominick, electronic, embryonic, ethnic, eugenic, ganglionic, gnomonic, hallucinogenic, harmonic, hedonic, hegemonic, histrionic, hydroponic, hypersonic, hypertonic, ionic, ironic, isoelectronic, isotonic, kibbutznik, laconic, leptonic, masonic, microelectronic, mnemonic, monoclinic, monophonic, multiethnic, neotenic, nucleonic, orogenic, ovonic, pathogenic, pharaonic, philharmonic, phonic, photogenic, planktonic, platonic, plutonic, pneumonic, polyphonic, polytechnic, psychogenic, pyrotechnic, refusenik, sardonic, scenic, schizophrenic, sonic, splenic, Sputnik, supersonic, symphonic, synchronic, technic, tectonic, telegenic, telephonic, tonic, transgenic, tunic, ultrasonic. |
Source: compiled by the editor (additional references); see credits. | ||
Scrabble® Enable2K-Verified Anagrams | |
| Words within the letters "a-c-g-g-i-i-n-t" | |
-1 letter: gaiting. | |
-2 letters: acting, caging, citing, gating. | |
-3 letters: acing, acini, actin, aging, antic, giant, icing. | |
-4 letters: agin, anti, cain, cant, gain, gait, gang, giga, gnat, inia, inti, tain, tang, ting. | |
-5 letters: act, ain, ait, ani, ant, can, cat, cig, gag, gan, gat, gig, gin, git, nag, nit, tag, tan, tic, tin. | |
| Words containing the letters "a-c-g-g-i-i-n-t" | |
+2 letters: cogitating, glaciating. | |
+3 letters: castigating, colligating. | |
+4 letters: backlighting, categorising, categorizing, excogitating, gigantically. | |
+5 letters: gesticulating, glycerinating, interchanging, miscataloging, phagocytizing. | |
| Source: compiled by the editor from various references; see credits. SCRABBLE® is a registered trademark. All intellectual property rights in and to the game are owned in the U.S.A and Canada by Hasbro Inc., and throughout the rest of the world by J.W. Spear & Sons Limited of Maidenhead, Berkshire, England, a subsidiary of Mattel Inc. Mattel and Spear are not affiliated with Hasbro. | |
| 1. Definition 2. Synonyms 3. Crosswords 4. Usage: Modern | 5. Usage: Commercial 6. Images: Slideshow 7. Images: Photo Album 8. Images: Digital Art | 9. Quotations: Familiar 10. Quotations: Historic 11. Quotations: Fiction 12. Quotations: Non-fiction | 13. Quotations: Speeches 14. Usage Frequency 15. Expressions 16. Expressions: Internet | 17. Translations: Modern 18. Derivations 19. Rhymes 20. Anagrams | 21. Bibliography |
Copyright © Philip M. Parker, INSEAD. Terms of Use.
