giant star

noun

a star having a diameter of from 10 to 100 times that of the sun, as Arcturus or Aldebaran.

Also, giant.

Compare supergiant star.

Origin

1910-15

Examples from the web for giant star

Intense radiation from a nearby giant star, outside the image, has swept the cloud into a comet shape.
About the sun entering the red giant star cycle or another asteroid coming and hitting our planet cant be controlled by us.
They expected to see hot gas funneling from a cool red giant star into a hot, dense blue star.
One is the hot, compact core of the dead star, while the other is a cooler giant star also nearing the end of its life.

British Dictionary definitions for giant star

giant star

noun

any of a class of stars, such as Capella and Arcturus, that have swelled and brightened considerably as they approach the end of their life, their energy supply having changed Sometimes shortened to giant Compare supergiant

giant star in Science

giant star
A very large, bright non-main-sequence star that burns hydrogen at a much faster rate than a dwarf star. Giant stars are much more luminous and have shorter lifespans than the slower-burning dwarfs. The larger the giant, the shorter its lifespan; the largest stars, with solar mass of around 100, blaze at several hundred thousand times the energy of the Sun and will last only a few million years, a very brief time when compared with the Sun's 10-billion-year lifespan. Giant stars usually end their lives as supernovae , but even before that event the immense ultraviolet radiation they produce has a dramatic impact on their stellar surroundings; the presence of a giant star in a star system prevents the formation of new protostars because the radiation from the giant star breaks apart any nearby nebulae.