Word.ws English Dictionary

gigantomachy

/d͡ʒaɪɡænˈtɒməki/

gigantomachy noun: the battle of the Giants (offspring of Gaia, according to Hesiod conceived from the spilt blood of Uranus) against the Olympian gods.

Noun

gigantomachy (countable and uncountable, plural gigantomachies)

  1. (Greek) The battle of the Giants (offspring of Gaia, according to Hesiod conceived from the spilt blood of Uranus) against the Olympian gods.
    • Here we will examine Amazonomachies, Gigantomachies, and Centauromachies; the Trojan War will be discussed in Chapter 7.1995, Susan B. Matheson, Polygnotos and Vase Painting in Classical Athens, University of Wisconsin Press, page 234
    • You often see the Gigantomachy in the sculptural decoration of Archaic temples: the statement of the authority of the gods, made by the temple itself, is reinforced by the myth told upon it.2006, Ken Dowden, Zeus, Taylor & Francis (Routledge), page 38
  2. (broadly) Any battle envisaged as being waged by giants against gods or against an established universal order.
    • Giant and dragon interchange as opponents of god or hero in folklore; in the gigantomachies we have evidence of their near-identity.1974, Joseph Eddy Fontenrose, Python: A Study of Delphic Myth and Its Origins, Biblo & Tannen, page 56
    • Beginning with the presentation of the giants in c.m. 53, supported by the Greek Gigantomachia and the recurring giant theme from the De Raptu Proserpinae, it is then possible to analyse the construction of the Visigothic leader Alaric to demonstrate the way in which he, in particular, is depicted...2018, Clare Coombe, Claudian the Poet, Cambridge University Press, page 95

Proper noun capitalized: Gigantomachy

the Gigantomachy

  1. Alternative letter-case form of gigantomachy.

Forms of gigantomachy

pluralgigantomachies
alternative formGigantomachy

Origin of gigantomachy

Learned borrowing from Ancient Greek Γιγαντομαχία (Gigantomakhía), from Γίγας (Gígas, “giant”) + μάχη (mákhē, “battle”) + -ια (-ia). Compare Titanomachy, Typhonomachy, centauromachy.

Questions about gigantomachy

What does gigantomachy mean?
Gigantomachy means the battle of the Giants (offspring of Gaia, according to Hesiod conceived from the spilt blood of Uranus) against the Olympian gods.
What part of speech is gigantomachy?
Gigantomachy can be a noun or a proper noun.
How do you pronounce gigantomachy?
Gigantomachy is pronounced /d͡ʒaɪɡænˈtɒməki/.
What is the plural of gigantomachy?
The plural of gigantomachy is gigantomachies.

Words near gigantomachy in the dictionary

  1. gigantoliths
  2. gigantological
  3. gigantologies
  4. gigantology
  5. gigantomachies
  6. gigantomachy
  7. gigantomania
  8. gigantomaniac
  9. gigantomastia
  10. gigantomasty
  11. gigantoprism

Source and license

Adapted from Wiktionary: gigantomachy (page history and authors); Gigantomachy (page history and authors). Text available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 license. Word.ws reformatted the entry and added links. Wiktionary data of 2026-09-02.

Last updated:

Cite this entry: “gigantomachy.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/gigantomachy. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.