leviathan
n. countablen. something that is extremely large and powerful. It can describe a huge sea creature from old stories or a very big organization or ship.
n. something of immense size and power, often used to describe large sea creatures, massive ships, or vast, bureaucratic organizations.
The new cruise ship is a true leviathan of the seas.
The tech company grew into a global leviathan that controlled nearly every aspect of digital communication.
In his political treatise, Hobbes uses the image of a leviathan to represent the absolute power of the state over the individual.
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.
Often used metaphorically to describe large corporations, governments, or physical structures.