sleeping giant
Unawakened formidable force
A sleeping giant is a person, organization, or nation with great latent power that remains dormant or unrecognized.
The metaphor suggests something massive and potentially formidable that hasn't yet been roused to action: China was long considered a sleeping giant.
To wake the sleeping giant is to provoke a powerful entity into action—often used of attacks that galvanize a previously passive adversary.
East Asian superpower
- superpowerDominant nation or magical ability
- economySystem of trade and production
- militaryArmed forces collectively
- industryEconomic production sector
manufacturing · infrastructure · expansion · influence · trade · resources · demographic · strategic
Statue of immense size
- titanDominant figure in field
- behemothCreature of immense size
- leviathanEnormous creature or entity
- juggernautOverwhelming, crushing force
Goliath · powerhouse · heavyweight · superpower · dominance · supremacy · hegemony · ascendancy
Not yet utilized
- latentPresent but inactive
- unrealizedNot made actual
- undevelopedNot fully formed
- emergentNewly come into existence
nascent · budding · incipient · fledgling · embryonic · reserves · hidden · capability
Exciting strong feeling
- stirringArousing strong emotion
- arousalStirring to heightened state
- revivalReturn after decline
- resurgenceReturn after dormancy
emergence · activation · mobilization · galvanizing · provocation · catalyst · trigger · threshold
Earth's fiery vent
- calderaCollapsed volcanic summit basin
- magmaMolten rock underground
- geyserErupting thermal vent
- tectonicsStudy of crustal deformation
eruption · seismology · fumarole · crater · lava · geothermal · hotspot · subduction
China
East Asian superpower
- superpowerDominant nation or magical ability
- economySystem of trade and production
- militaryArmed forces collectively
industry · manufacturing · infrastructure · expansion · influence · trade · resources · demographic · strategic · rising
colossus
Statue of immense size
juggernaut · Goliath · powerhouse · heavyweight · superpower · dominance · supremacy · hegemony · ascendancy · formidable
untapped
Not yet utilized
- latentPresent but inactive
- unrealizedNot made actual
- undevelopedNot fully formed
emergent · nascent · budding · incipient · fledgling · embryonic · reserves · hidden · capability · promise
rousing
Exciting strong feeling
resurgence · emergence · activation · mobilization · galvanizing · provocation · catalyst · trigger · threshold · tipping point
volcano
Earth's fiery vent
tectonics · eruption · seismology · fumarole · crater · lava · geothermal · hotspot · subduction · rift
- dormant structuresdormant volcano, abandoned factory, empty warehouse
- hidden potentialhidden talent, raw talent, undiscovered talent
sleeping giantgoing concern
Profitable, continuing enterprise
live wire · dynamo · powerhouse · juggernaut · market leader
sleeping giantimminent danger
Threat about to occur
loose cannon · ticking time bomb · aggressor · menace · existential threat
sleeping giantspent force
Thing past its peak
paper tiger · has-been · hollow shell · weakling · pushover
sleep, giant, sleepy, gigantic, sleeping, slept, sleeper, sleeps, sleepiness