great
Pronunciation Adjective
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Pronunciation Adjective
great (comparative greater, superlative greatest)
- Relatively large in scale, size, extent, number (i.e. having many parts or members) or duration (i.e. relatively long); very big.
- A great storm is approaching our shores.
- a great assembly
- a great wait
- Of larger size or more importance than others of its kind.
- the great auk
- Bible, Book Daniel ii. 48
- So the King made Daniel a great man […]
- c. 1597, William Shakespeare, “The Merry VViues of VVindsor”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies: Published According to the True Originall Copies (First Folio), London: Printed by Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, OCLC 606515358 ↗, [Act III, scene iv]:
- He doth object I am too great of birth.
- (qualifying nouns of family relationship) Involving more generations than the qualified word implies — as many extra generations as repetitions of the word great (from 1510s). [see Derived terms]
- great-grandfather, great-great-grandfather, great-great-great-grandfather
- (obsolete, postpositive, followed by 'with') Pregnant; large with young; full of.
- great with child
- great with hope
, Psalms lxxviii. 71 - the ewes great with young
- (obsolete, except with 'friend' and similar words such as 'mate','buddy') Intimate; familiar.
- 1625, Francis Bacon, Of Followers and Friends
- those that are so great with him
- 1625, Francis Bacon, Of Followers and Friends
- Extreme or more than usual.
- great worry
- Of significant importance or consequence; important.
- a great decision
- 1910, Emerson Hough, chapter I, in The Purchase Price: Or The Cause of Compromise, Indianapolis, Ind.: The Bobbs-Merrill Company, OCLC 639762314 ↗, page 0088 ↗:
- “We are engaged in a great work, a treatise on our river fortifications, perhaps? But since when did army officers afford the luxury of amanuenses in this simple republic?”
- (applied to actions, thoughts and feelings) Arising from or possessing idealism; admirable; superior; commanding; heroic; illustrious; eminent.
- a great deed
- a great nature
- a great history
- Impressive or striking.
- a great show of wealth
- Much in use; favoured.
- Poetry was a great convention of the Romantic era.
- (applied to persons) Endowed with extraordinary powers; of exceptional talents or achievements; uncommonly gifted; able to accomplish vast results; remarkable; strong; powerful; mighty; noble.
- a great hero, scholar, genius, philosopher, writer etc.
- Title referring to an important leader.
- Alexander the Great
- Doing or exemplifying (a characteristic or pursuit) on a large scale; active or enthusiastic.
- What a great buffoon!
- He's not a great one for reading.
- a great walker
- (often followed by 'at') Skilful or adroit.
- a great carpenter
- You are great at singing.
- (informal) Very good; excellent; wonderful; fantastic (from 1848).
- Dinner was great.
- (informal, British) Intensifying a word or expression, used in mild oaths.
- a dirty great smack in the face
- Great Scott!
- See also Thesaurus:large
- See also Thesaurus:excellent
- gr8, grt (Internet slang, text messaging)
- French: grand, grande
- German: groß
- Italian: grande
- Portuguese: grande, grandioso, enorme
- Russian: вели́кий
- Spanish: gran, grande
- French: excellent, super, formidable
- German: großartig, schön, fein, wundervoll
- Italian: formidabile, magnifico, ottimo, superbo, eccellente, super
- Portuguese: ótimo
- Russian: прекра́сный
- Spanish: formidable, muy bueno
- French: grand
- French: grand, grande
- German: Große
- Italian: magno, magna
- Portuguese: grande, grandioso, distinto
- Russian: вели́кий
- Spanish: Magno, Grande
- Expression of gladness and content about something.
- Great! Thanks for the wonderful work.
- 2016, [https://web.archive.org/web/20170918070146/https://learningenglish.voanews.com/a/lets-learn-english-lesson-3-i-am-here/3126527.html VOA Learning English] (public domain)
- I am in my new apartment! Great!
- I am in my new apartment! Great!
- sarcastic inversion thereof.
- Oh, great! I just dumped all 500 sheets of the manuscript all over and now I have to put them back in order.
- French: chouette, génial, très bien
- German: prima
- Italian: grandioso, bene
- Portuguese: magnífico, ótimo
- Russian: здо́рово
- Spanish: bien, grandioso
great (plural greats)
- A person of major significance, accomplishment or acclaim.
- Newton and Einstein are two of the greats of the history of science.
- 2019, Daniel Taylor, Lionel Messi magic puts Barcelona in command of semi-final with Liverpool (in The Guardian, 1 May 2019)
- Sadio Mané wasted a glorious chance in the first half and, late on, Mohamed Salah turned his shot against a post after a goal-line clearance had spun his way. That, in a nutshell, perhaps sums up the difference between Messi and the players on the next rung below – the ones who can be described as great footballers without necessarily being football greats.
- (music) The main division in a pipe organ, usually the loudest division.
- (in combinations such as "two-greats", "three-greats" etc.) An instance of the word "great" signifying an additional generation in phrases expressing family relationships.
- My three-greats grandmother.
- (person of major significance, accomplishment or acclaim) mediocre
great (not comparable)
- (informal) Very well in a very satisfactory manner.
- Those mechanical colored pencils work great because they don't have to be sharpened.
This text is extracted from the Wiktionary and it is available under the CC BY-SA 3.0 license | Terms and conditions | Privacy policy 0.002