Gargantuan

//ɡɑːˈɡæn.t͡ʃu.ən// adj

adj ·Moderate ·High school level

Definitions

Adjective
  1. 1
    Huge; immense; tremendous.

    "Some distant observers of the Scottish football scene reckon that all - all! - Gerrard has to do is beat Celtic to become a legend. Even if that was true - and, demonstrably, it is not - then it would be a gargantuan task all on its own."

  2. 2
    Alternative letter-case form of gargantuan. alt-of

    "The delectableſt luſtie ſight and mouingeſt obiect, me thought it was that our Ile ſets forth, and nothing behinde in number with the inuincible Spaniſh Armada, though they were not ſuch Gargantuan boyſterous gulliguts as they, though ſhips and galeaſſes they would haue beene reckoned in the nauy of K. Edgar, who is chronicled & regiſtred with three thouſand ſhips of warre to haue ſcoured the narrow ſeas, and ſailed round about England euery Summer."

  3. 3
    Of the giant Gargantua or his appetite. obsolete
Adjective
  1. 1
    of great mass; huge and bulky wordnet

Synonyms

All synonyms
colossalelephantineenormousgiantgigantichuge

Example

More examples

"Developing Algiers is a gargantuan task."

Etymology

From French Gargantua, a giant with a very large appetite in Rabelais's The Inestimable Life of Gargantua. Rabelais derived Gargantua from the Portuguese and Spanish garganta (“throat”).

More for "gargantuan"

SynonymsSentencesPronunciationTranslate

Next best steps

Find stronger synonymsSee usage examplesCheck pronunciationBrowse writing guides

Data sourced from Wiktionary, WordNet, CMU, and other open linguistic databases. Updated March 2026.