goliath
noun
Simple meaning
Any large person or thing.
Pronunciation
Say it like this:
guhlyuhthSay the bold part a little louder.
IPA pronunciation (US)
ɡəˈlaɪəθ
This word is pronounced essentially the same in American and British English, so one transcription covers both.
IPA (International Phonetic Alphabet) is a standard way of writing speech sounds.
Definition
Everyday modern meanings first, grouped by part of speech.
noun
figuratively
Any large person or thing; someone or something that is abnormally large or powerful.
biblicalOld Testament
A giant Philistine warrior who was slain by David with a slingshot
A very large champagne bottle with the capacity of about 27 liters, equivalent to 36 standard bottles.
biblical
A giant who, according to the Bible, was vanquished in battle with King David.
Alternative letter-case form of Goliath.
Word at a Glance
- Difficulty
- C1 · Advanced (estimated)
- Frequency
- Uncommon
Word Aura™
How this word commonly comes across.
Aura for this meaning
This meaning: Any large person or thing; someone or something that is abnormally large or powerful.
Used this way, goliath is a reasonably familiar word that usually carries little praise or criticism of its own. It usually sounds natural in a wide range of settings.
- Emotional tone
- Neutral
- Formality
- Neutral
- Intensity
- Moderate
- How common
- Moderately common
- Connotation
- Matter-of-fact
- Usage feel
- Neutral and straightforward
Word Aura describes common impressions, not a measurement. Tone changes with sentence, speaker, relationship and situation.
Share your sentence
Common Patterns and Combinations
How this word naturally appears with others.
Similar Words, What’s the Difference?
Close in meaning, but not always interchangeable.
Word Family
Related forms, grouped by how they connect.
Compound terms
Established multiword terms.
Largest living frog.
Largest living frog.
Ask Vocabaura
Understand the word your way.
What Does It Mean Here?
Words can change meaning depending on context.
Use it yourself
Knowing “goliath” starts when you use it. Pick a next step, all free.
Dictionary data from Wiktionary via the Free Dictionary API. Simple meanings, combinations and word intelligence are built from verified reference data, no AI is used to load this page.