Definitions

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition.

  • noun The quality or condition of being a giant.

from The Century Dictionary.

  • noun The state of being a giant.
  • noun Abnormal growth or development, especially as regards height.

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.

  • noun the state or quality of being a giant
  • noun gigantism

from WordNet 3.0 Copyright 2006 by Princeton University. All rights reserved.

  • noun excessive largeness of stature
  • noun excessive size; usually caused by excessive secretion of growth hormone from the pituitary gland

Etymologies

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License

giant +‎ -ism, coined in the mid 17th century. In the medical or biological sense of gigantism from the 1880s.

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Examples

  • You know that there is a disease called giantism, caused by ‘a certain morbid process in the sphenoid bone of the skull — viz., an excessive development of the anterior lobe of the pituitary body’ (this is from the nearest encyclopedia).

    Oscar Wilde, His Life and Confessions 2007

  • You know that there is a disease called giantism, caused by 'a certain morbid process in the sphenoid bone of the skull -- viz., an excessive development of the anterior lobe of the pituitary body '(this is from the nearest encyclopedia).

    Oscar Wilde, Volume 2 (of 2) His Life and Confessions Frank Harris 1893

  • Some humans, such as the late actor Andre the Giant, develop the opposite disease - acromegaly , which is also known as giantism.

    Yahoo! News: Business - Opinion 2011

  • Some humans, such as the late actor Andre the Giant, develop the opposite disease - acromegaly , which is also known as giantism.

    Yahoo! News: Business - Opinion 2011

  • "giantism" - since any further and large assumption of added power would bring about one entity of even more menacing size than now ...

    Rough Type: Nicholas Carr's Blog 2009

  • Besides outlining the problem - basically "giantism" as the enemy of local communities - the authors suggest a number of practical steps to achieve their vision.

    Archive 2005-09-01 2005

  • Besides outlining the problem - basically "giantism" as the enemy of local communities - the authors suggest a number of practical steps to achieve their vision.

    Boyle and Calder on communities 2005

  • An editorial in the Johannesburg-based weekly Mail and Guardian newspaper said South Africa's economic "giantism" was resented in

    ANC Daily News Briefing 2003

  • On the other hand he excuses Wilde's perversion as pathological, as hereditary "giantism," and so lightens the darkest shadows just as he has toned down the lights.

    Oscar Wilde, Volume 2 (of 2) His Life and Confessions Frank Harris 1893

  • What else is such constructive enormity but 'giantism'?

    Ave Roma Immortalis, Vol. 1 Studies from the Chronicles of Rome 1881

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