gargantuan

adjective

gar·​gan·​tuan gär-ˈgan(t)-sh(ə-)wən 

often capitalized

: 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.

Synonyms

• astronomical
• astronomic
• Brobdingnagian
• bumper
• colossal
• cosmic
• cosmical
• cyclopean
• elephantine
• enormous
• galactic
• giant
• gigantesque
• gigantic
• grand
• herculean
• heroic
• heroical
• Himalayan
• huge
• humongous
• humungous
• immense
• jumbo
• king-size
• king-sized
• leviathan
• mammoth
• massive
• mega
• mighty
• monster
• monstrous
• monumental
• mountainous
• oceanic
• pharaonic
• planetary
• prodigious
• super
• super-duper
• supersize
• supersized
• titanic
• tremendous
• vast
• vasty
• walloping
• whacking
• whopping

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

Securing the world’s longest land border – about 4,000 miles across forests, fields, ditches, and lakes – is a gargantuan task. —Anna Mehler Paperny, The Christian Science Monitor, 16 Dec. 2024

Sunday, December 8 The Scene Art Miami + CONTEXT at 1 Herald Plaza The Report Miami’s longest-running international art fair, Art Miami, celebrated its 34th year alongside sister fair CONTEXT Art Miami, erecting gargantuan twin tents to showcase a staggering selection of contemporary art. —Jaime Sloane, SPIN, 16 Dec. 2024

But the Broncos certainly weren’t apologizing Sunday night for the gift of a gargantuan gaffe. —Nick Kosmider, The Athletic, 16 Dec. 2024

Astonishingly, within months a gargantuan budget deficit was turned into a surplus. —Steve Forbes, Forbes, 10 Dec. 2024

Word History

Etymology

Gargantua

First Known Use

1596, in the meaning defined above

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Kids Definition

gargantuan

adjective

gar·​gan·​tuan gär-ˈganch-wən 

-ə-wən

: extraordinary in size, degree, or volume : gigantic

Etymology

from Gargantua, a giant with an enormous appetite in books by the French author François Rabelais