giant

1 of 2

noun

gi·​ant ˈjī-ənt How to pronounce giant (audio)
plural giants
Synonyms of giantnext
1
: a legendary humanlike being of great stature and strength
2
a
: a living being of great size
b
: a person of extraordinary powers
3
: something unusually large or powerful
4
astronomy : a star of high luminosity and relatively great mass and size
a red giant
As it exhausts its hydrogen fuel, changes in its interior trigger a transformation from a blue giant to a yellow supergiant in only a few hundred thousand years.—James B. Kaler
compare dwarf sense 4a, supergiant
giantlike
ˈjī-ənt-ˌlīk How to pronounce giant (audio)
adjective

giant

2 of 2

adjective

: having extremely large size, proportion, or power

Synonyms of giant

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Noun

Adjective

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Examples of giant in a Sentence

Noun the land of the giants the Great Pyramids of Egypt are giants among the world's architectural wonders Adjective a giant-size box of detergent the giant sycamore tree that dwarfs our house is almost 250 years old
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Noun
Eaton bought a solid-state transformer company outright; giants such as Schneider Electric, Delta Electronics and Hitachi Energy are all circling. — Alex Pasternack, Scientific American, 20 Oct. 2026 Last week, Meta faced backlash after legal experts warned that the tech giant’s sweeping new commercial terms of service seemed to give Meta permission to endlessly scrape websites linked on business pages. — Ashley Belanger, ArsTechnica, 20 Oct. 2026
Adjective
The directive affects a building whose tenants include major international financial institutions such as Merrill Lynch, consulting giant McKinsey & Company and the International Monetary Fund. — Emma Bussey, FOXNews.com, 19 Oct. 2026 This is where Battlebots come in, those miniature mechanical smashing machines that evade each other (as well as giant killsaws, pulverizers and screws) while humans try directing them via joystick boxes. — Rick Burton, Sportico.com, 19 Oct. 2026 See All Example Sentences for giant

Word History

Etymology

Noun

Middle English giaunt, from Anglo-French geant, from Latin gigant-, gigas, from Greek

First Known Use

Noun

13th century, in the meaning defined at sense 1

Adjective

15th century, in the meaning defined above

Time Traveler
The first known use of giant was in the 13th century

Phrases Containing giant

Rhymes for giant

See All Rhymes for giant

Browse Nearby Words

giallolino
giant
giant's cauldron
See all Nearby Words

Cite this Entry

“Giant.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/giant. Accessed 22 Oct. 2026.

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Kids Definition

giant

1 of 2 noun
gi·​ant ˈjī-ənt How to pronounce giant (audio)
1
: a very large and strong being of legend
2
: a person or thing that is very large or powerful

giant

2 of 2 adjective
: much larger or more powerful than ordinary

More from Merriam-Webster on giant

Britannica.com: Encyclopedia article about giant

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