Leviathan
adj, noun ·Common ·High school level
Definitions
- 1 A vast sea monster of tremendous strength, either imaginary or real, described as the most dangerous and powerful creature in the ocean.
"So is this greate and wyde ſee [sea] alſo, wherin are thinges crepinge innumerable, both ſmall and greate beaſtes. There go the ſhippes ouer, and there is that Leuiathan, whom thou haſt made, to take his paſtyme therin."
- 2 Alternative letter-case form of leviathan. alt-of
"So is this greate and wyde ſee [sea] alſo, wherin are thinges crepinge innumerable, both ſmall and greate beaſtes. There go the ſhippes ouer, and there is that Leuiathan, whom thou haſt made, to take his paſtyme therin."
- 3 monstrous sea creature symbolizing evil in the Old Testament wordnet
- 4 A thing which is monstrously great in size, strength, etc. (especially a ship); also, a person with great power or wealth. figuratively
"Of this laſt requeſt, the Lacquy of this great Leuiathan, promiſde he ſhould be maiſter, but he vvould not bring him to a miles end by land, (they vvere too many to meddle vvith)."
- 5 the largest or most massive thing of its kind wordnet
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- 6 Sometimes in the form Leviathan: based on the writings of Thomas Hobbes, the political state, especially a domineering and totalitarian one. figuratively
"Holonym: the System"
- 7 Synonym of Satan (“the supreme evil spirit in the Abrahamic religions, who tempts humanity into sin; the Devil”). figuratively, obsolete
"[S]eu'n times thrice more glorious the name, / By vvhich thrice povverfull vvee coniure the ſame: / VVhich but repeated doth that Dragon feare, / That olde Leuyathan vvhoſe iavves Lord teare. / […] / Then glorious Captaine, our chiefe God and man, / Breake thou the Iavves of old Leuiathan."
- 1 Very large; enormous, gargantuan. not-comparable
"Her virtuous, pale-blue, saucerlike eyes flooded with leviathan tears on unexpected occasions and made Yossarian mad."
Antonyms
All antonymsExample
More examples"Glorious London! Leviathan of human greed; palpitating hot-bed of iniquity and joy; Greek, Roman, Spanish, Saxon, Kelt, Scot, Pict, Norman and Dane have swept over thee like winter storms; and the mighty Cæsar, Julius of old, with a myriad of bucklered warriors and one hundred galleons of sailors, triple-oared mariners, defying wave and fate, have ploughed the placid face of Father Thames, startling the loud cry of hawk and bittern as his royal prows grated on thy strand, or skimmed over the marshes of thy infancy."
Etymology
The noun is derived from Middle English leviathan, levyathan, levyethan, from Late Latin leviathan, a transliteration of Biblical Hebrew לִוְיָתָן (liwyāṯān), possibly from לִוְיָה (liwyâ, “garland, wreath”) + ־תָּן (-tān, suffix forming agent nouns), literally “the tortuous one”. Noun sense 2.2 (“political state”) was coined by English philosopher Thomas Hobbes (1588–1679) in his work Leviathan (1651): see the quotation. Noun sense 2.3 (“synonym of Satan”) refers to Isaiah 27:1 in the Bible (King James Version, spelling modernized): “In that day the Lord with his sore and great and strong sword shall punish Leviathan the piercing serpent, even Leviathan that crooked serpent, and he shall slay the dragon that is in the sea.” The adjective is from an attributive use of the noun.
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Data sourced from Wiktionary, WordNet, CMU, and other open linguistic databases. Updated March 2026.