I. lə̇ˈvīəthən noun
( -s )
Etymology: Middle English, from Late Latin, from Hebrew liwyāthān
1.
a. often capitalized : a sea monster often symbolizing evil in the Old Testament and in Christian literature
thou didst crush the heads of leviathan — Ps 74:14 (Revised Standard Version)
b.
(1) : any of various large sea animals
this leviathan of animals is the great Blue Whale — Weston LaBarre
(2) : a large oceangoing ship
the modern leviathan would be a commercial failure were the traveling public not willing to pay … for the extra speed, comfort, and luxury — W.D.Winter
c. archaic : a wealthy or powerful man
2. or leviathan state usually capitalized L
[so called from the use of the word Leviathan to designate the state in the book Leviathan (1651) by Thomas Hobbes died 1679 English philosopher]
: the political state ; especially : an all-powerful state usually held to be characterized by a vast bureaucracy and machinery of coercion and exercising totalitarian control over its citizens
the oppression of Leviathan at its worst — Times Literary Supplement
the prostration of the judiciary before the Nazi Leviathan — Karl Loewenstein
millions … surrendered their right of private judgment to the Leviathan state — Geoffrey Bruun
3. : the largest or most massive thing of its kind : the monster of a class
America has come to look like … a leviathan of mechanized power — Irwin Edman
published that leviathan of school books — G.H.Genzmer
leviathan shovels … dig their wide trench as they crawl — Frederick Simpich †1950
II. adjective
: of enormous size : monstrous , vast
the leviathan proportions of international scandal — Paul Murray
show the volume and pressure of that leviathan intelligence — Christopher Morley