elephantine

American  

[el-uh-fan-teen, -tahyn, -tin, el-uh-fuhn-teen, -tahyn] / ˌɛl əˈfæn tin, -taɪn, -tɪn, ˈɛl ə fənˌtin, -ˌtaɪn /

adjective

1. pertaining to or resembling an elephant.

2. huge, ponderous, or clumsy.

   elephantine movements; elephantine humor.

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elephantine British  

/ ˌɛlɪˈfæntaɪn /

adjective

1. denoting, relating to, or characteristic of an elephant or elephants

2. huge, clumsy, or ponderous

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Etymology

Origin of elephantine

1620–30; < Latin elephantinus < Greek elephántinos. See elephant, -ine ¹

Explanation

Something elephantine is huge, bulky, and a little clumsy, much like an elephant. Riding a bicycle in a rainstorm while trying to hold an elephantine super-sized soda is a bad idea. An elephant is one of the largest animals in the world — even the babies weigh more than most people! So, things that are also enormous can be called elephantine. Other big animals — like whales — are elephantine. A cake that could feed fifty people is elephantine. If you owe a lot of money, that’s an elephantine debt. Elephantine things can also be unwieldy and bulky or just plain huge. Anything elephantine is extra-large.

Example Sentences

It is often assumed that elephantine ponderousness is the price that must be paid for their storytelling heft.

From The Wall Street Journal • Mar. 11, 2026

It feels less oppressive, less elephantine, lighter and more graceful on its feet.

From Los Angeles Times • Nov. 23, 2022

Its existence suggests that other elephantine asteroids, veiled by the sun’s glare, remain disconcertingly undiscovered.

From New York Times • Oct. 31, 2022

Despite Casey’s protestations, the dog somehow ends up in her backpack, and when Clifford blows up to elephantine proportions, it sets off a series of wild adventures through the city.

From Seattle Times • Nov. 9, 2021

Ignatius picked up one of his elephantine desert boots and flung it at the pirouetting figure.

From "A Confederacy of Dunces" by John Kennedy Toole