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.
a creature of gargantuan proportions
people seem to be buying ever more gargantuan SUVs these days
Recent Examples on the WebThe challenges for their engineering and assembly are equally gargantuan.—IEEE Spectrum, 9 May 2024 Sierra will join several other outdoor retailers in the market, including gargantuan Bass Pro Shops, The North Face and Scheels.—Jenna Thompson, Kansas City Star, 9 May 2024 See all Example Sentences for gargantuan
These examples are programmatically compiled from various online sources to illustrate current usage of the word 'gargantuan.' Any opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback about these examples.
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