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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.
Synonyms of gargantuan
Examples of gargantuan in a Sentence
Emily Nussbaum, New Yorker, 17 May 2026
The whole thing was a spectacle of gargantuan proportions.
—José Criales-Unzueta, Vanity Fair, 17 May 2026
Despite the name, Johan Cruijff Arena is a gargantuan football stadium.
—Rob Sheffield, Rolling Stone, 17 May 2026
SpaceX is on the cusp of launching its gargantuan Starship rocket for the first time in 2026.
—Eric Lagatta, USA Today, 15 May 2026
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Cite this Entry
“Gargantuan.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/gargantuan. Accessed 22 May. 2026.
Copy CitationKids Definition
gargantuan
adjective
from Gargantua, a giant with an enormous appetite in books by the French author François Rabelais
