• (RP, America) enPR: tītănʹĭk IPA: /taɪˈtænɪk/

See Titanic.

titanic (not comparable)

1. Alternative case form of Titanic
   1. (not comparable) Of or relating to the Titans, a race of giant gods in Greek mythology.
   2. (by extension)
      1. (comparable) Having great size, or great force, power, or strength.
      2. (not comparable) Of a conflict or contest: involving equally powerful participants.

From titanium + -ic, in the case of sense 1 (“of or relating to titanium”) modelled after French titanique.

titanic (not comparable)

1. (inorganic chemistry) Of or relating to titanium, especially tetravalent titanium.
2. (mineralogy) Of a mineral, especially iron ore: containing titanium, or from which titanium may be extracted.

   Synonyms: titanian, titaniferous

• titanian
• titaniferous
• titanoan
• titanous

• (RP, America) enPR: tītănʹĭk IPA: /taɪˈtænɪk/

From Late Latin Titanicus, or its etymon Ancient Greek Τιτανικός, from Τιτᾶνες + -ικός.

• from τῐ́σῐς, ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *kʷey-; or
• from τιταίνω, from τείνω, ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *ten-; or
• from τίτο, originally borrowed from ine-ana -.

  The English word is analysable as Titan + -ic.

titanic (not comparable)

1. (not comparable) Of or relating to the Titans, a race of giant gods in Greek mythology.

   Synonyms: Titanian, titanical

2. (by extension)
   1. (comparable) Having great size, or great force, power, or strength.

      (having great size) Synonyms: Titanian, titanical, Thesaurus:large

      (having great size) Antonyms: Thesaurus:small

      • 1818, Lord Byron, “Canto IV”, in Childe Harold's Pilgrimage. Canto the Fourth, London: John Murray, […], →OCLC ↗, stanza XLVI, page 26 ↗:

        Rome—Rome imperial, bows her to the storm, / In the same dust and blackness, and we pass / The skeleton of her Titanic form, / Wrecks of another world, whose ashes still are warm.

      • 1851 November 13, Herman Melville, “The Grand Armada”, in Moby-Dick; or, The Whale, 1st American edition, New York, N.Y.: Harper & Brothers; London: Richard Bentley, →OCLC ↗, pages 430–431 ↗:

        And still in the distracted distance we beheld the tumults of the outer concentric circles, and saw successive pods of whales, eight or ten in each, swiftly going round and round, like multiplied spans of horses in a ring; and so closely shoulder to shoulder, that a Titanic circus-rider might easily have overarched the middle ones, and so have gone round on their backs.

   2. (not comparable) Of a conflict or contest: involving equally powerful participants.

• Titanian
• titanical

• French: titanique, titanesque
• German: titanisch
• Portuguese: titânico

• French: titanesque
• German: titanisch, titanenhaft
• Italian: titanico
• Portuguese: titânico
• Spanish: titánico

The proper noun is derived from Titanic (etymology 1, adjective senses 1 and 2.

1. The R.M.S. Titanic, an ocean liner, supposedly unsinkable, that sank on its maiden voyage on 15 April 1912 after colliding with an iceberg.

   The Titanic story inspired a movie considered as one of the best of all time.

• French: Titanic
• German: Titanic
• Portuguese: Titanic
• Russian: Титаник

titanic (plural titanics)

1. A venture that fails spectacularly, especially one perceived as overconfident.