colossus

[ kuh-los-uhs ]

See synonyms for colossus on Thesaurus.com

noun,plural co·los·si

[kuh-los-ahy], /kəˈlɒs aɪ/, co·los·sus·es.

(initial capital letter) the legendary bronze statue of Helios at Rhodes.: Compare Seven Wonders of the World.
any statue of gigantic size.

anything colossal, gigantic, or very powerful.

Origin of colossus

1350–1400; Middle English <Latin <Greek kolossós statue, image, presumably < a pre-Hellenic Mediterranean language

Words Nearby colossus

Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2024

How to use colossus in a sentence

When he brought the idea of the colossus to America, the Civil War had ended just six years earlier.
128 Years Old and Still a Looker: Happy Birthday to Lady Liberty | Elizabeth Mitchell | October 28, 2014 | THE DAILY BEAST
He first pitched his idea of a female harbor colossus to Egypt but the deal fell through.
128 Years Old and Still a Looker: Happy Birthday to Lady Liberty | Elizabeth Mitchell | October 28, 2014 | THE DAILY BEAST
The literary world he helped found and nurture, and whose landscape he bestrode like the colossus he was—that world is gone.
Peter Matthiessen Was One of the Greatest Writers of a Great Generation | Malcolm Jones | April 7, 2014 | THE DAILY BEAST
And Bishop, colossus, Warpath, Blink, Sunspot, Quiksilver, Stryker and Havoc will all be there too.
The Most Anticipated Culture Events of 2014: ‘Inherent Vice,’ ‘Divergent,’ and More | | January 1, 2014 | THE DAILY BEAST
Edmund Morgan, 97 Diminutive, almost elfin in appearance, he bestrode his field like a colossus.
The Deaths You Missed This Year | Malcolm Jones, Jimmy So, Michael Moynihan, Caitlin Dickson | December 30, 2013 | THE DAILY BEAST

He believes, he has an instinct, that here is the heel of the German colossus, otherwise immune to our arrows.
Gallipoli Diary, Volume I | Ian Hamilton
He beckoned to a superb officer, splendid in his trappings—a blue-eyed colossus of nearly six-feet-six.
Punch, or the London Charivari, Vol. 147, September 2nd, 1914 | Various
Shelby thought that there was a slight chance that the colossus might be able to read his lips even though he could not hear.
The Revolt of the Star Men | Raymond Gallun
The ungainly, lumbering motor-boat, with a hulking colossus balanced at the tiller, dropped behind.
The Wasted Generation | Owen Johnson
The most eminent of this kind was the colossus of Rhodes, a brazen statue of Apollo, one of the wonders of the world.
The Book of Curiosities | I. Platts

British Dictionary definitions for colossus

colossus

/ (kəˈlɒsəs) /

nounplural -si (-saɪ) or -suses

something very large, esp a statue

Origin of colossus

C14: from Latin, from Greek kolossos

Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012

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