Wiktionary:Word of the day/2025/August 1

Word of the day
for August 1

leviathan n

(biblical, mythology) A vast sea monster of tremendous strength, either imaginary or real, described as the most dangerous and powerful creature in the ocean.
(figurative)
1. A thing which is monstrously great in size, strength, etc. (especially a ship); also, a person with great power or wealth.
2. (political science) Sometimes in the form Leviathan: based on the writings of Thomas Hobbes, the political state, especially a domineering and totalitarian one.
3. (obsolete) Synonym of Satan (“the supreme evil spirit in the Abrahamic religions, who tempts humanity into sin; the Devil”).

Very large; enormous, gargantuan.

The American author Herman Melville was born on this day in 1819. He is particularly known for his 1851 novel Moby-Dick, about the quest of Captain Ahab for vengeance against Moby Dick, a giant white sperm whale that bit off his leg on a previous voyage.

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