leviathan

Meaning

Noun

1. A vast sea monster of tremendous strength, either imaginary or real, described as the most dangerous and powerful creature in the ocean.
2. (figuratively) A thing which is monstrously great in size, strength, etc. (especially a ship); also, a person with great power or wealth.
3. (figuratively) Sometimes in the form Leviathan: based on the writings of Thomas Hobbes, the political state, especially a domineering and totalitarian one.
4. (figuratively, obsolete) Synonym of Satan (“the supreme evil spirit in the Abrahamic religions, who tempts humanity into sin; the Devil”).

Adj

Very large; enormous, gargantuan.

Synonyms

behemoth

cetacean

colossus

giant

gigantesque

gigantic

huge

humongous

immense

mammoth

🦣

megatherium

monster

titan

whale

🐳

sea monster

Translations

léviathan

leviatán

colosso

gigante

leviatano

Leviathan

leviatã

Meerungeheuer

riesig

gigantisch

éléphantin

🐘

éléphantine

gargantuesque

géant

éléphantesque

Pronounced as (IPA)

/ləˈvaɪ.ə.θən/

Etymology

Inherited from Middle English: levyethan

In summary

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”.
Sense 2.2 (“political state”) was coined by English philosopher Thomas Hobbes (1588–1679) in his work Leviathan (1651): see the quotation. 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.