leviathan

/li'vaiəθən/

Thân thiện

The leviathan of a cruise ship slowly enters the harbor.

Definition

1. Noun:
   • A monstrous sea creature: In the Old Testament, a leviathan is a huge and powerful sea monster, often symbolizing chaos or evil.
   • Something of enormous size or power: A leviathan can refer to anything that is gigantic, immensely powerful, or very complex, especially an organization or structure.

Usage Examples

• Noun:
  • The biblical leviathan was a fearsome creature of the deep.
  • The new aircraft carrier is a true leviathan of the seas.
  • Managing the federal bureaucracy, a modern leviathan, is a complex task.

Advanced Usage

• "Leviathan state": A term used in political philosophy to describe an extremely large and powerful government, often seen as intrusive or oppressive.
  • Some philosophers warn against the creation of a leviathan state that infringes on personal liberties.

Variants and Related Words

• Leviathan (adjective): Sometimes used attributively to describe something of leviathan-like proportions.
  • The company undertook a leviathan project to build the new dam.

Synonyms

• Behemoth: Something of enormous size and power.
• Colossus: A person or thing of great size, importance, or ability.
• Titan: A person or thing of very great strength, intellect, or importance.

Related Idioms and Phrases

• A leviathan task: An idiom describing a task of immense scale or difficulty.
  • Reforming the entire tax code is a leviathan task for any administration.

Học thuật

Noun

1. monstrous sea creature symbolizing evil in the Old Testament
2. the largest or most massive thing of its kind
   • it was a leviathan among redwoods
   • they were assigned the leviathan of textbooks