(in biblical use) a sea monster, identified in different passages with the whale and the crocodile (e.g. Job 41, Ps. 74:14), and with the Devil (after Isa. 27:1).
a very large aquatic creature, especially a whale:the great leviathans of the deep
a thing that is very large or powerful, especially an organization or vehicle:it’s a challenge to navigate a wheeled leviathan in rush-hour traffic
an autocratic monarch or state:we must tame the state Leviathan
[with allusion to Hobbes's Leviathan (1651)]
Origin:
via late Latin from Hebrew liwyāṯān
leviathan in other Oxford dictionaries
Definition of leviathan in the US English dictionary
