How do you use the word "leviathan" in a sentence?

Here are real-life examples of using "leviathan": The leviathan of the sea was a massive whale. The company had become a leviathan in the industry.

Leviathan Meaning

/lɪˈvaɪəθn̩/

Definition, CEFR level C2, pronunciation, examples, and quiz.

Definition

nounA vast sea monster of tremendous strength, either imaginary or real, described as the most dangerous and powerful creature in the ocean.

nounA thing which is monstrously great in size, strength, etc. (especially a ship); also, a person with great power or wealth.

Sentence Examples

The leviathan of the sea was a massive whale.

The company had become a leviathan in the industry.

The huge ship looked like a leviathan in the harbor.

CEFR Practice Quiz

The new shipping company became a ____ in the global trade industry.

CEFR Practice Quiz (Alternate)

The massive cruise ship was a true ____ of the seas, carrying thousands of passengers to exotic locations.

Word Origin & History

The noun is derived from Middle English leviathan, levyathan, levyethan, from Late Latin leviathan, a transliteration of Biblical Hebrew לִוְיָתָן (liwyāṯān), possibly from לִוְיָה (liwyâ, “garland, wreath”) + ־תָּן (-tān, suffix forming agent nouns), literally “the tortuous one”. Noun sense 2.2 (“political state”) was coined by English philosopher Thomas Hobbes (1588–1679) in his work Leviathan (1651): see the quotation. Noun sense 2.3 (“synonym of Satan”) refers to Isaiah 27:1 in the Bible (King James Version, spelling modernized): “In that day the Lord with his sore and great and strong sword shall punish Leviathan the piercing serpent, even Leviathan that crooked serpent, and he shall slay the dragon that is in the sea.” The adjective is from an attributive use of the noun.

Literary Quotations & Historical Citations

"So is this greate and wyde ſee [sea] alſo, wherin are thinges crepinge innumerable, both ſmall and greate beaſtes. There go the ſhippes ouer, and there is that Leuiathan, whom thou haſt made, to take his paſtyme therin." — 1535 October 14 (Gregorian calendar), Myles Coverdale, transl., Biblia: The Byble, […] (Coverdale Bible), [Cologne or Marburg]: [Eucharius Cervicornus and Johannes Soter?], →OCLC, Psalm ciij:[25–26], folio xxx, recto, column 1:

"Euen ſo do I thinke them no trewe Chryſtian men that do not reioyce with the Angels of heauen for the deliuerie of theſe owre brootherne, owre fleſſhe, and owre bones, from the handes of owre commune enemie the oulde ſerpente who hath ſo longe had them in hys poſſeſſion, vntyll the fulneſſe of the gentyles be accomplyſſhed accordynge to the time prefinite by hym, who vnto the yeare after his incarnation. M. CCCC. lxxxxii. hath ſuffered the greate ſerpente of the ſea Leuiathan, to haue ſuche dominion in the Ocean […]" — 1555, Richard Eden, “Rycharde Eden to the Reader”, in Peter Martyr of Angleria [i.e., Peter Martyr d’Anghiera], translated by Rycharde Eden, The Decades of the Newe Worlde or West India, […], London: […] [Rycharde Jug for] Guilhelmi Powell, →OCLC:

"The fomie vvaues out of the dreadfull deep, / The huge Leuiathan, dame Natures vvonder, / Making his ſport, that manie makes to vveep: […]" — 1591, Ed[mund] Sp[enser], “Visions of the Worlds Vanitie”, in Complaints. Containing Sundrie Small Poemes of the Worlds Vanitie. […], London: […] William Ponsonbie, […], →OCLC, part 5, signature [X4], recto:

"Canſt thou dravv out Leuiathan vvith an hooke? or his tongue vvith a corde vvhich thou letteſt dovvne?" — 1611, The Holy Bible, […] (King James Version), London: […] Robert Barker, […], →OCLC, Job 41:1, signature Bbb2, verso, column 1:

"[T]hat Sea beaſt / Leviathan, vvhich God of all his vvorks / Created hugeſt that ſvvim th' Ocean ſtream: […]" — 1667, John Milton, “Book I”, in Paradise Lost. […], London: […] [Samuel Simmons], and are to be sold by Peter Parker […]; [a]nd by Robert Boulter […]; [a]nd Matthias Walker, […], →OCLC, signature [A4], recto, lines 200–202:

Explore More C2 Vocabulary Words