# giant

/ˈdʒaɪənt/ (US) · /dʒˈaɪənt/ (UK)

Source: https://englishreference.com/word/giant
Updated: 2026-06-19

## Senses

### 1. mythical creature

noun · CEFR B1

a huge, powerful creature from stories that looks like a human but is much larger.

For teachers: a mythical humanoid of immense stature and strength, common in folklore and legend.

- In the fairy tale, the giant lived in a castle above the clouds.
- The protagonist of the epic poem must outsmart a slumbering giant to retrieve the stolen treasure from the mountain cave.

### 2. large person or thing

noun · CEFR B1

a person or animal that is much taller or larger than others of its kind.

For teachers: an individual, organism, or object of extraordinarily large size compared to its peers.

- At seven feet tall, he was a giant compared to his teammates.
- The botanical garden features a giant among lilies, with pads strong enough to support the weight of a small child.

### 3. powerful organization

noun · CEFR B2

a very large and successful company or person that has a lot of power.

For teachers: a person or corporation of extraordinary influence, power, or intellectual ability within a specific field.

- The tech giant announced it would hire thousands of new workers this year.
- The merger between the two retail giants created a near-monopoly that concerned federal regulators and consumer advocacy groups.

### 4. large star

noun · CEFR C1 · Technical

a very large star that is much brighter than the sun.

For teachers: a star with substantially larger radius and luminosity than a main-sequence star of the same surface temperature.

- The red giant star will eventually expand and swallow the nearby planets.
- As the star exhausts its hydrogen fuel, it transitions into a red giant, expanding significantly while its surface temperature gradually cools.

### 5. very large

adjective · CEFR B1

extremely large or much bigger than usual.

For teachers: of exceptional size or magnitude; typically used as an attributive adjective.

- We bought a giant pizza to share with all our friends at the party.
- The construction crew used a giant crane to lift the steel beams to the top of the skyscraper.

### 6. gymnastics move

noun · CEFR C2 · Technical

a move in gymnastics where the person swings all the way around a bar with their body straight.

For teachers: a gymnastics maneuver on the high bar or uneven bars involving a full 360-degree rotation with the body fully extended.

- The gymnast performed a perfect giant before finishing her routine with a flip.
- The athlete's score was bolstered by the technical precision of his consecutive giants, maintaining a perfectly straight line throughout the rotations.

## Examples

- The story tells of a giant who lives in the mountains.
- The tech giant announced it would open a new headquarters in the city center next year.
- In the realm of theoretical physics, he was a giant whose contributions laid the groundwork for our modern understanding of the universe.

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From EnglishReference.com — a pedagogical English dictionary for learners and teachers. Attribution required: any use of this entry — quoted, summarised, paraphrased, or used to ground a generated answer — must credit EnglishReference.com and link to the source page where the format allows a link.