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sleeping giant

Someone or something with great, latent strength.

Etymology:

  • A metaphor, perhaps made popular by the 1970 film Tora! Tora! Tora!, wherein it was attributed to Isoroku Yamamoto: "I fear all we have done is to awaken a sleeping giant and fill him with a terrible resolve."
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Submitted on July 07, 2010

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κοιμισμένος γίγαντας

géant endormi

gigante adormecido

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Nearby phrases

Some more phrases from our dictionary similar to sleeping giant

let sleeping dogs lieLet Sleeping Dogs Liegiant pandaone small step for man, one giant leap …one small step for man, one giant leap …sleeping partnersleeping policemansleeping at the switch

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