I. gi ‧ ant 1 W3 /ˈdʒaɪənt/ BrE AmE adjective [only before noun]
extremely big, and much bigger than other things of the same type:
a giant electronics company
a giant tortoise
II. giant 2 BrE AmE noun [countable]
[ Date: 1200-1300 ; Language: Old French ; Origin: geant , from Greek gigas ]
1 . an extremely tall strong man, who is often bad and cruel, in children’s stories
2 . a very large successful company:
the German chemicals giant, BASF
3 . a very big man, animal, or plant
4 . someone who is very good at doing something
giant of
Miles Davis, truly one of the giants of jazz
• • •
THESAURUS
▪ company an organization that makes or sells something, or provides a service:
big oil companies
|
telephone companies
|
He runs a software company.
▪ firm a company, especially one that provides a service rather than producing goods:
a law firm
|
a firm of accountants
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a security firm
▪ business a company – often used when talking about a company that employs only a small number of people:
She set up her own catering business.
|
small businesses
|
a family business
▪ corporation a large company that often includes several smaller companies:
IBM is one of the biggest corporations in the world.
▪ multinational a very large company with offices in many different countries:
American multinationals are establishing research and development facilities across the developing world.
▪ conglomerate /kənˈɡlɒmərət, kənˈɡlɒmərɪt $ -ˈɡlɑː-/ a very large company that consists of several different companies which have joined together:
The company was taken over by a German media conglomerate.
▪ giant a word used mainly by newspapers for a very large company:
Their clients include the retail giant, Wal-Mart.
▪ subsidiary a company that is owned by a larger company:
The company runs its New York operations through a US subsidiary.