rhizoverbBeta
DictionarygargantuanEnormous size
adjective

gargantuan

gar-GAN-choo-un/ɡɑːrˈɡæntʃuən/

Extremely large or massive.

The gargantuan sequoia dwarfs the woman beside it.

A gargantuan giant sequoia trunk dwarfs an older woman standing immediately beside its base, making its extraordinary size clear through direct human scale.
Etymology
gargantuFrenchRabelais’ voracious giant
+anEnglishrelating to

Gargantua is the voracious giant in Rabelais’ novels. With the adjective ending -an, his name became a way to describe anything of enormous size or amount.

In context

Free Documentary - Nature2:07
the Anaconda family consists of five species among them the largest snake in the world while the gargantuan proportions of a green anaconda are subject to Wild speculation
World of the Wild | Episode 1: The Amazon Rainforest | Free Documentary Nature

More examples

  • The film features a gargantuan sea creature.
  • Clearing the archive proved a gargantuan task.
  • He served a gargantuan portion of pasta.

Forms

gargantuan

Similar words

enormous
Enormous means very large; gargantuan adds a more vivid, emphatic sense of gigantic scale.
colossal
Colossal and gargantuan both emphasize enormous size; gargantuan often adds a more playful or literary tone.