Word definition: great

Etimology


From Middle English greet (“great, large”), from Old English grēat (“big, thick, coarse, massive”), from Proto-West Germanic *graut, from Proto-Germanic *grautaz (“big in size, coarse, coarse grained”), from Proto-Indo-European *gʰrewd-, *gʰer- (“to rub, grind, remove”). Cognate with Scots great (“coarse in grain or texture, thick, great”), West Frisian grut (“large, great”), Dutch groot (“large, stour”), German groß (“large”), Old English grēot (“earth, sand, grit”). Related to grit. Doublet of gross.

adjective


great (comparative greater, superlative greatest)

Taking much space; large.

(informal) Very good; excellent; wonderful; fantastic. [from 1848]

Important, consequential.

(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]

(obsolete, postpositive, followed by 'with') Pregnant; large with young; full of.

(obsolete, except with 'friend' and similar words such as 'mate', 'buddy') Intimate; familiar.

(applied to actions, thoughts and feelings) Arising from or possessing idealism; admirable; commanding; illustrious; eminent.

Impressive or striking.

Much in use; favoured.

(applied to persons) Of much talent or achievements.

Doing or exemplifying (a characteristic or pursuit) on a large scale; active or enthusiastic.

Examples


“[…] the awfully hearty sort of Christmas cards that people do send to other people that they don't know at all well. You know. The kind that have mottoes like // Here's rattling good luck and roaring good cheer, / With lashings of food and great hogsheads of beer. […]”

‘Children crawled over each other like little grey worms in the gutters,’ he said. ‘The only red things about them were their buttocks and they were raw. Their faces looked as if snails had slimed on them and their mothers were like great sick beasts whose byres had never been cleared. […]’

Hidden behind thickets of acronyms and gorse bushes of detail, a new great game is under way across the globe. Some call it geoeconomics, but it's geopolitics too. The current power play consists of an extraordinary range of countries simultaneously sitting down to negotiate big free trade and investment agreements.

great worry

“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?”

The first half of this century has been referred to as the golden age of medicine. To me it seems more probable that we are on the threshold of a much greater age.

a dirty great smack in the face

Great Scott!

Dinner was great.

He was thinking; but the glory of the song, the swell from the great organ, the clustered lights, […], the height and vastness of this noble fane, its antiquity and its strength—all these things seemed to have their part as causes of the thrilling emotion that accompanied his thoughts.

a great dilemma

a great decision

So the King made Daniel a great man […]

great-grandfather, great-great-grandfather, great-great-great-grandfather

great with child

great with hope

the ewes great with young

those that are so great with him

a great deed

a great nature

a great history

a great show of wealth

Poetry was a great convention of the Romantic era.

a great hero, scholar, genius, philosopher, writer etc.

What a great buffoon!

He's not a great one for reading.

a great walker

Related words


synonyms

(augmentative): grand, super-, supra-, hyper-, ultra-, uber-, macro-, arch-, over-, mega-, giga-, -zilla

See also Thesaurus:large

See also Thesaurus:excellent

gr8, grt (Internet slang, text messaging)

antonyms

(very big, large scale): tiny

(uncommonly gifted): mediocre, ordinary

interjection


great

Expression of gladness and content about something.

sarcastic inversion thereof.

Examples


Great! Thanks for the wonderful work.

I am in my new apartment! Great!Audio

Audio

Oh, great! I just dumped all 500 sheets of the manuscript all over and now I have to put them back in order.

noun


great (plural greats)

A person of major significance, accomplishment or acclaim.

(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.

Examples


Newton and Einstein are two of the greats of the history of science.

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.

My three-greats grandmother.

Related words


antonyms

(person of major significance, accomplishment or acclaim): mediocre

adverb


great (not comparable)

(informal) Very well (in a very satisfactory manner).

Examples


Those mechanical colored pencils work great because they don't have to be sharpened.

Data provided by Wiktionary