Giant vs. Goliath — What's the Difference?

In folklore, giants (from Ancient Greek: gigas, cognate giga-) are beings of human-like appearance, but are at times prodigious in size and strength or bear an otherwise notable appearance. The word giant is first attested in 1297 from Robert of Gloucester's chronicle.

Goliath ( gə-LY-əth) is described in the biblical Book of Samuel as a Philistine giant defeated by the young David in single combat. The story signified Saul's unfitness to rule, as Saul himself should have fought for Israel.

A person or thing of great size.

A person or thing of colossal power or achievement.

A person or thing of extraordinary power, significance, or importance

Alternative case form of Goliath

Greek Mythology One of a race of humanlike beings of enormous strength and stature who were destroyed in battle with the Olympians.

(Old Testament) a giant Philistine warrior who was slain by David with a slingshot

A being in folklore or myth similar to one of these beings.

Someone or something that is abnormally large and powerful

A gymnastic maneuver in which the body is swung, fully extended, around a horizontal bar.

Marked by exceptionally great size, magnitude, or power

A mythical human of very great size.

(mythology) Specifically:

Any of the gigantes, the race of giants in the Greek mythology.

A jotun.

A very tall and large person.

A tall species of a particular animal or plant.

(astronomy) A star that is considerably more luminous than a main sequence star of the same temperature (e.g. red giant, blue giant).

(computing) An Ethernet packet that exceeds the medium's maximum packet size of 1,518 bytes.

A very large organisation.

A person of extraordinary strength or powers, bodily or intellectual.

(gymnastics) A maneuver involving a full rotation around an axis while fully extended.

Very large.

A man of extraordinari bulk and stature.

A person of extraordinary strength or powers, bodily or intellectual.

Any animal, plant, or thing, of extraordinary size or power.

Like a giant; extraordinary in size, strength, or power; as, giant brothers; a giant son.

Any creature of exceptional size

A person of exceptional importance and reputation

An unusually large enterprise;

A very large person; impressive in size or qualities

Someone or something that is abnormally large and powerful

An imaginary figure of superhuman size and strength; appears in folklore and fair tales

A very bright star of large diameter and low density (relative to the Sun)

Of great mass; huge and bulky;