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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
Robin George Andrews, Scientific American, 28 Mar. 2025
Last year, for a 230-foot custom yacht in build, the client wanted bespoke mattresses measuring a gargantuan nine feet by nine feet.
—Michael Verdon, Robb Report, 27 Mar. 2025
ARTnews spoke with Ho about Night Charades, the ethics of AI, resisting nostalgia, and creating a work fit to the M+ Facade’s gargantuan proportions.
—Harrison Jacobs, ARTnews.com, 24 Mar. 2025
What to look for in a quality crabgrass killer
Chemicals
Crabgrass killers use a gargantuan list of possible chemicals, but some are more common than others.
—Bestreviews, Chicago Tribune, 24 Mar. 2025
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Cite this Entry
“Gargantuan.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/gargantuan. Accessed 9 Apr. 2025.
Copy CitationKids Definition
gargantuan
adjective
from Gargantua, a giant with an enormous appetite in books by the French author François Rabelais
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