What does gargantuan mean?
Word: Gargantuan
Part of Speech: Adjective
Meaning: Gargantuan means extremely large, far bigger than you would expect.
Synonyms: colossal
How do you spell gargantuan?
Syllables: gar - gan - tu - an
Tricky part: The vowels catch people out. The weak last vowel gives no clue when spoken, so pupils guess at en or on.
Watch out for: gargantuen, gargantuon, gargantian
Memory tip: Count the vowels: three a's and one u, and the very last vowel is an a again.
Gargantuan in a sentence
Example 1: The gargantuan banyan tree near Kolkata spreads wider than a football field.
Example 2: Feeding the whole wedding party was a gargantuan task, even with twenty cooks.
Example 3: Blue whales have gargantuan appetites and can swallow tonnes of krill in a day.
Fun Fact
The word comes from Gargantua, a giant with a vast appetite in the stories of the French writer Francois Rabelais, published in the 1530s.
Practise the CREST Way
Word Cookie
Insert the correct pair of letters to form a word:
ga_ga_tuan
a) r,n
b) l,n
c) r,m
d) n,r
Show answer
a) r,n. Say it slowly: the first beat closes on the sound in car, the next on the sound in man.
Mingle-Mangle
Unjumble the letters in the sentence to form a meaningful word:
Building the new dam was a nagutrnaag project that took over ten years to complete.
a) gallantry
b) gargantuan
c) gardening
d) guarantee
Show answer
b) gargantuan. The jumble holds three a's and two n's, and just one option uses all of them.
Word Connection
Choose the antonym of the word gargantuan as used in the sentence:
The ship looked gargantuan beside the small fishing boats moored in the harbour at Kochi.
a) miniature
b) mammoth
c) massive
d) immense
Show answer
a) miniature. Three of these mean huge, so they agree with the word; miniature is the one that goes the other way.
Spell-o-Spell
Three words in the list are spelt correctly. Choose the meaning of the misspelt word:
1. turmeric 2. garganchuan 3. cinnamon 4. labyrinth
a) a confusing network of paths
b) a sweet brown spice taken from bark
c) a bright yellow spice used in curries
d) so big that it seems unreal
Show answer
d) so big that it seems unreal. The spoken ch sound here is really written with a t; labyrinth, cinnamon and turmeric are all correct.
Multiple Choice Questions
1. What could fairly be called gargantuan?
a) a bookmark tucked into a paperback
b) a cargo ship longer than three pitches
c) a sparrow resting on a window ledge
d) a pencil sharpened down to a stub
Show answer
b) a cargo ship longer than three pitches
2. A headline reads 'Gargantuan Effort Saves Lake'. What does it suggest?
a) A small group gave up too soon
b) A short test proved rather easy
c) A quiet plan was kept secret
d) A huge amount of work was needed
Show answer
d) A huge amount of work was needed
