Word.ws English Dictionary

leviathans

leviathans is the plural of leviathan.

Meaning of leviathan

Noun

leviathan (plural leviathans)

  1. A vast sea monster of tremendous strength, either imaginary or real, described as the most dangerous and powerful creature in the ocean.
    • So is this greate and wyde ſee [sea] alſo, wherin are thinges crepinge innumerable, both ſmall and greate beaſtes. There go the ſhippes ouer, and there is that Leuiathan, whom thou haſt made, to take his paſtyme therin.1535 October 14 (Gregorian calendar), Myles Coverdale, transl., Biblia: The Byble, […] (Coverdale Bible), [Cologne or Marburg]: [Eucharius Cervicornus and Johannes Soter?], →OCLC, Psalm ciij:[25–26]...
  2. (figuratively) A thing which is monstrously great in size, strength, etc. (especially a ship); also, a person with great power or wealth.
    • Of this laſt requeſt, the Lacquy of this great Leuiathan, promiſde he ſhould be maiſter, but he vvould not bring him to a miles end by land, (they vvere too many to meddle vvith).1606, Tho[mas] Dekker, “The Deuill Let Loose, with His Answere to Pierce Pennylesse”, in Newes from Hell; […], London: […] R. B[lower, S. Stafford, and Valentine Simmes] for W. Ferebrand, […], →OCLC...
  3. (figuratively) Sometimes in the form Leviathan: based on the writings of Thomas Hobbes, the political state, especially a domineering and totalitarian one.
    • Holonym: the System
  4. (figuratively, obsolete) Synonym of Satan (“the supreme evil spirit in the Abrahamic religions, who tempts humanity into sin; the Devil”).
    • [S]eu'n times thrice more glorious the name, / By vvhich thrice povverfull vvee coniure the ſame: / VVhich but repeated doth that Dragon feare, / That olde Leuyathan vvhoſe iavves Lord teare. / […] / Then glorious Captaine, our chiefe God and man, / Breake thou the Iavves of old Leuiathan.1595, Bar[nabe] Barnes, “Invocation to the Diuine Father of Sacred Muses. Sonnet XLVIII.”, in A Divine Centurie of Spirituall Sonnets, London: […] Iohn Windet, […], →OCLC, signature [D4], recto
    Synonyms:
    Satan

See all 5 meanings of leviathan

Noun capitalized: Leviathans

Leviathans

  1. (plural) plural of Leviathan

Questions about leviathans

What is leviathans the plural of?
Leviathans is the plural of leviathan.
What part of speech is leviathans?
Leviathans is a noun.

Words near leviathans in the dictionary

  1. Levi-Civita field
  2. Levi-Civita fields
  3. leviable
  4. leviathan
  5. leviathanic
  6. leviathans
  7. Levick
  8. Levicks
  9. Levico Terme
  10. levidrome
  11. levidromes

Source and license

Adapted from Wiktionary: leviathans (page history and authors); Leviathans (page history and authors); leviathan (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.

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