gargantuan
/ɡɑːˈɡantjʊən
/adjective
Enormous: a gargantuan appetite...
- However, for those of us for whom it also is work, it is a stamina and endurance challenge of gargantuan proportions.
- As befits a man with a gargantuan appetite, he chose the menu himself.
- A whole new sector with a gargantuan appetite for power was emerging.
Synonyms
enormous, extremely big, extremely large, massive, huge, colossal, vast, immense, cosmic, tremendous, gigantic, giant, monstrous, towering, mammoth, prodigious, elephantine, mountainous, mighty, monumental, epic, king-size, king-sized, titanic, Herculean, Brobdingnagian, substantial, hefty, weighty, bulky
informal whopping, whopping great, thumping, thumping great, humongous, mega, monster, jumbo, hulking, bumper
British informal whacking, whacking great, ginormous
Origin
Late 16th century: from Gargantua, the name of a voracious giant in Rabelais' book of the same name (1534), + -an.
Gargantua is the name of a large-mouthed giant with a huge and insatiable appetite from the book of the same name, published in 1534, by the French satirical writer Rabelais. In one episode Gargantua accidentally swallows six pilgrims while eating a salad. Gargantuan, meaning ‘enormous or gigantic’, comes from the name of Rabelais' colossal guzzler.