Definition

1. Adjective:
   • Extremely large, heavy, and clumsy; resembling an elephant in size or characteristics: Used to describe something of enormous mass, bulk, or scale, often with an implication of being unwieldy or slow-moving.

Usage

• The word "elephantine" is used to emphasize not just large size, but also a ponderous, massive, and sometimes awkward quality. It is a formal or literary term.
• It is typically used attributively (before a noun) or predicatively (after a linking verb like "was" or "seemed").

Examples

• The elephantine statue dominated the town square, casting a long shadow.
• The bureaucracy's elephantine procedures made progress frustratingly slow.
• Her movements were elephantine as she tried to navigate the crowded room in her heavy winter coat.

Advanced Usage

• "Elephantine memory": An idiom suggesting an exceptionally powerful or long-lasting memory, akin to the folk belief that elephants never forget.
  • The professor had an elephantine memory for historical dates.

Variants and Related Words

• Elephant (n): The large mammal from which the adjective derives its meaning.
• Elephantiasis (n): A medical condition causing extreme swelling of body parts, metaphorically related to excessive enlargement.

Synonyms

• Colossal: Extremely large.
• Gargantuan: Enormous, gigantic.
• Massive: Large and heavy or solid.
• Ponderous: Slow and clumsy because of great weight.
• Jumbo (informal): Very large.

Antonyms

• Minuscule: Extremely small.
• Tiny: Very small.
• Petite: Small and slender.

Idioms and Phrases

• Elephant in the room: A major problem or controversial issue that is obviously present but avoided as a subject for discussion. (Note: This is a common idiom using "elephant," not the adjective "elephantine," but is semantically related through the concept of large, unavoidable presence).

Adjective

1. of great mass; huge and bulky
   • a jumbo jet
   • jumbo shrimp