Meaning & use
giant
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Meanings
nouncountable
An imaginary person of enormous size and strength in stories and myths.
Grammar: Often appears in fairy tales: a giant lived in the castle.
Patterns
- a giant in a story
Jack climbed the beanstalk and met a giant.
The old legend tells of a giant who built the hills.
The children drew a friendly giant.
nouncountablefigurative
A very large, powerful or important person, company or thing in its field.
Grammar: Often preceded by a field: a tech giant, a literary giant.
Patterns
- a giant of something
- a giant in something
The company is a giant in the car industry.
She is a giant of modern science.
Two retail giants announced a merger.
adjectivebefore a noun
Much larger than usual for its kind.
Grammar: Comes before the noun: a giant pumpkin, not a pumpkin giant.
Patterns
- giant something
They built a giant sandcastle on the beach.
A giant wave crashed against the pier.
We ate giant slices of pizza.
nouncountabletechnical
A person who is unusually tall because of a medical condition, or a very large star.
Grammar: In astronomy often a red giant.
Patterns
- a red giant
Astronomers study how a red giant swells before collapsing.
Jupiter is a gas giant with no solid surface.
The star will become a giant in billions of years.
Word forms
| plural | giants |
|---|
Common combinations
- gentle giant
- The huge dog is a gentle giant.
- tech giant
- A tech giant bought the startup.
- giant leap
- The discovery was a giant leap for medicine.
- giant panda
- The giant panda eats bamboo.
- red giant
- The Sun will one day become a red giant.
Synonyms and how they differ
- colossus
- Colossus is more literary and suggests something huge and awe-inspiring, while giant is ordinary.
- huge
- Huge only describes size, but giant can also name a person or a firm.
- titan
- Titan is rooted in Greek myth and highlights power and influence more than size.
- enormous
- Enormous is an adjective only and never names a being or a company.
Opposites
Word family
Commonly confused: giant or gigantic?
giant vs gigantic
Gigantic is only an adjective meaning extremely big; giant can also be a noun for a creature or powerful company.
Practice
The online store has become a ______ in the retail world.
Choose one answer.
A noun is needed after 'a', and giant here means a very powerful company. Gigantic is an adjective and does not fit after 'a ... in the retail world'.
Make it your own
Write a sentence using “giant”, then check it and compare it with the examples above.