great
Language: English
Part of speech: adj
Pronunciation: enpr: grāt
ipa: /ˈɡɹeɪt/
ipa: /ˈɡɹæɪt/
ipa: [ˈɡɹeːt]
note: Ottawa Valley
ipa: [ˈɡɹeːt]
note: Ottawa Valley
ipa: [ˈɡɹɛːt]
homophone: grate
rhymes: -eɪt
enpr: grĕt
ipa: /ˈɡɹɛt/
note: 18ᵗʰ century
enpr: grīt
ipa: /ɡɹiːt/
note: 18ᵗʰ century
note: Early Modern English; 16ᵗʰ–17ᵗʰ centuries
ipa: /ɡɹɛːt/
note: Early Modern English; 16ᵗʰ–17ᵗʰ centuries
other: /ɡɹɛt/
Forms: form: greater
form: greatest
form: gert
form: girt
form: gurt
Etymology: 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 graat, great, greet, greit (“coarse in grain or texture, thick, great”), North Frisian grat, grut, gurt (“big, great, large”), Saterland Frisian groot (“big, large”), West Frisian grut (“large, great”), Dutch groot (“large, stour”), German gross, groß (“large”), Luxembourgish grouss (“big, great, large”), Old English grēot (“earth, sand, grit”). Related to grit. Doublet of gross.
The modern pronunciation shows an irregular change of Early Modern English /ɛː/ to /eɪ/ in the standard language; contrast this with the development of other words such as beat and heat.
Senses: examples: text: “[…] 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.[…]”
ref: 1921, Ben Travers, chapter 1, in A Cuckoo in the Nest, Garden City, N.Y.: Doubleday, Page & Company, published 1925, →OCLC:
text: ‘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.[…]’
ref: 1963, Margery Allingham, chapter 7, in The China Governess: A Mystery, London: Chatto & Windus, →OCLC:
text: 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.
ref: 2013 July 19, Timothy Garton Ash, “Where Dr Pangloss meets Machiavelli”, in The Guardian Weekly, volume 189, number 6, page 18:
glosses: Taking much space; large.
examples: text: great worry
text: “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?”
ref: 1910, Emerson Hough, chapter I, in The Purchase Price: Or The Cause of Compromise, Indianapolis, Ind.: The Bobbs-Merrill Company, →OCLC:
text: 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.
ref: 1951 March, John W. Cline, “The Future of Medicine”, in Northwest Medicine, volume 50, number 3, Portland, Ore.: Northwest Medical Publishing Association, page 165:
glosses: Taking much space; large.
Much, more than usual.
raw_tags: of an abstract noun
examples: text: a dirty great smack in the face
text: Great Scott!
glosses: Taking much space; large.
Intensifying a word or expression, used in mild oaths.
examples: text: Dinner was great.
text: 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.
ref: 1918, W[illiam] B[abington] Maxwell, chapter V, in The Mirror and the Lamp, Indianapolis, Ind.: The Bobbs-Merrill Company, →OCLC:
glosses: Very good; excellent; wonderful; fantastic.
examples: text: a great dilemma
text: a great decision
text: So the King made Daniel a great man […]
ref: 1611, The Holy Bible, […] (King James Version), London: […] Robert Barker, […], →OCLC, Daniel 2:48:
text: The Dawn is over-caſt, the Morning low’rs,
And heavily in Clouds brings on the Day,
The great, th’ important Day; big with the Fate
Of Cato and of Rome.
ref: 1712 (date written), [Joseph] Addison, Cato, a Tragedy. […], London: […] J[acob] Tonson, […], published 1713, →OCLC, Act I, scene i, page 1:
text: The methods for finding parameters that are commonly used in RBC models include using coefficients that come from microeconomic studies for parameters like the time discount factor, rental income over total income for the parameters of a Cobb-Douglas production function, and adjusting parameters so that stationary state value values approach those of the great ratios such as consumption over income and capital over income.
ref: 2008, George McCandless, The ABCs of RBCs, Harvard University Press, page 2:
text: I’ll cover fiscal theory and the recent inflation (again!) of course, but also more recent thoughts on the great puzzle of monetary economics, how central banks can lower inflation by raising nominal interest rates.
ref: 2025 September 30, John H. Cochrane, “Brunner lecture”, in The Grumpy Economist:
glosses: Important, consequential.
examples: text: great-grandfather, great-great-grandfather, great-great-great-grandfather
qualifier: qualifying nouns of family relationship
glosses: Involving more generations than the qualified word implies — as many extra generations as repetitions of the word great (from 1510s).
examples: text: great with child
text: great with hope
text: the ewes great with young
ref: 1611, The Holy Bible, […] (King James Version), London: […] Robert Barker, […], →OCLC, Psalms 78:71:
glosses: Pregnant; large with young; full of.
raw_tags: followed by 'with'
examples: text: those that are so great with him
ref: 1625, Francis [Bacon], “Of Followers and Friends”, in The Essayes […], 3rd edition, London: […] Iohn Haviland for Hanna Barret, →OCLC:
qualifier: except with 'friend' and similar words such as 'mate'; 'buddy'; except with 'friend' and similar words such as 'mate'; 'buddy'
glosses: Intimate; familiar.
examples: text: a great deed
text: a great nature
text: a great history
qualifier: applied to actions; thoughts and feelings; applied to actions; thoughts and feelings
glosses: Arising from or possessing idealism; admirable; commanding; illustrious; eminent.
examples: text: a great show of wealth
glosses: Impressive or striking.
examples: text: Poetry was a great convention of the Romantic era.
glosses: Much in use; favoured.
examples: text: a great hero, scholar, genius, philosopher, writer, etc.
qualifier: applied to persons
glosses: Of much talent or achievements.
examples: text: What a great buffoon!
text: He’s not a great one for reading.
text: a great walker
glosses: Doing or exemplifying (a characteristic or pursuit) on a large scale; active or enthusiastic.
Synonyms: word: grand
word: super-
word: supra-
word: hyper-
word: ultra-
word: uber-
word: macro-
word: arch-
word: over-
word: mega-
word: giga-
word: -zilla
word: gr8
word: grt
Derived terms: word: a great deal
word: a great many
word: behind every great man is a great woman
word: behind every great man there stands a woman
word: child-great
word: death is the great leveller
word: double great primer
word: engreaten
word: go great guns
word: go to great lengths
word: great albatross
word: great antshrike
word: great ape
word: great artery
word: Great Assize
word: great auk
word: great-aunt
word: great aunt
word: greataxe
word: great balls of fire
word: great bass
word: great bass recorder
word: great beyond
word: great big
word: great bit bucket in the sky
word: great bittern
word: great black-backed gull
word: great black hawk
word: great blue heron
word: great blue lobelia
word: greatbow
word: great brown kingfisher
word: great bulrush
word: great bustard
word: great cabin
word: great Caesar's ghost
word: great cardiac vein
word: great casino
word: great cassino
word: great cat
word: great cerebral vein
word: great chain of being
word: great chamber
word: great circle
word: great circle arc
word: great-circle arc
word: great circle route
word: greatcoat
word: great comet
word: great conjunction
word: great cormorant
word: great crest
word: great crested grebe
word: great crested newt
word: great cry and little wool
word: great cubicuboctahedron
word: Great Dane
word: great deal
word: great divide
word: great dodecahedron
word: great eggfly
word: great egret
word: greaten
word: Great Feasts
word: great fee
word: Great Filter
word: great go
word: great-go
word: great-grand
word: great-grandaunt
word: great-grandchild
word: great grandchild
word: great granddaughter
word: great-granddaughter
word: great grandfather
word: great-grandfather
word: great-grandfather-in-law
word: great grandkid
word: great-grandkid
word: great-grandma
word: great grandmaster
word: great grandmother
word: great-grandmother
word: great grand multipara
word: great grand multiparity
word: great grand multiparous
word: great-grandnephew
word: great-grandniece
word: great-grandpa
word: great-grandparent
word: great grandparent
word: great-grandparenthood
word: great grandson
word: great-grandson
word: great-granduncle
word: great great grandchild
word: great-great-grandchild
word: great-great-granddaughter
word: great great granddaughter
word: great great grandfather
word: great-great-grandfather
word: great-great-grandma
word: great-great-grandmother
word: great great grandmother
word: great-great-grandparent
word: great great grandparent
word: great great grandson
word: great-great-grandson
word: great great great grandfather
word: great-great-great-grandfather
word: great-great-great-grandmother
word: great great great grandmother
word: great-great-nephew
word: great green macaw
word: great grey owl
word: great grey shrike
word: great gross
word: great gun
word: great hall
word: greathammer
word: great haste makes great waste
word: Greathead
word: greathearted
word: great-hearted
word: great-heartedness
word: great heaume
word: great heavens
word: great helm
word: great horned owl
word: great horsetail
word: Great Hours
word: great house
word: great hundred
word: great icosahedron
word: great icosihemidodecahedron
word: great imitator
word: greatish
word: great job
word: great knot
word: great laurel
word: greatly
word: great man theory
word: great martyr
word: great-martyr
word: great martyress
word: great masquerader
word: great minds
word: great minds think alike
word: great mullein
word: great-nephew
word: greatness
word: great-niece
word: great northern bean
word: great northern diver
word: great northern loon
word: great northern prawn
word: great northern shrike
word: great oaks from little acorns grow
word: great octave
word: great office of state
word: great one
word: great outdoors
word: great power
word: great pox
word: great-pox
word: great primer
word: great prior
word: great ramshorn
word: great reed warbler
word: Great Replacement
word: great replacement
word: great replacement theory
word: great reset
word: great rhombicuboctahedron
word: Great Rift Valley
word: greatroom
word: great room
word: great saphenous vein
word: great sapphirewing
word: great Satan
word: great Scott
word: great seahorse
word: great seal
word: great seal script
word: great skua
word: great slaty woodpecker
word: great snipe
word: greatsome
word: great spotted kiwi
word: great spotted woodpecker
word: great spur wheel
word: great stone-curlew
word: greatsword
word: great-tailed grackle
word: Great Terror
word: great thick-knee
word: great tinamou
word: great tit
word: great-tit
word: great toe
word: great-uncle
word: great uncle
word: great unhosed
word: great unwashed
word: great vessel
word: Great Vowel Shift
word: great whale
word: great wheel
word: great white
word: great white egret
word: great white heron
word: great white hope
word: great white rat
word: great white shark
word: great willowherb
word: grunkle
word: little strokes fell great oaks
word: no great scratch
word: no great shakes
word: nongreat
word: overgreat
word: pearl of great price
word: small rain lays great dust
word: success is a great deodorant
word: take great pains
word: the great and the good
word: time is a great healer
word: time is a great healer of all wounds
word: time is the great healer
word: to a great extent
word: two-line great primer
word: ungreat
word: winning is a great deodorant
word: with great difficulty
sense: Place names including "Great"
word: Great Alne
sense: Place names including "Great"
word: Great Altcar
sense: Place names including "Great"
word: Great Amwell
sense: Place names including "Great"
word: Great and Little Hampden
sense: Place names including "Great"
word: Great and Little Leighs
sense: Place names including "Great"
word: Great Australian Bight
sense: Place names including "Great"
word: Great Aycliffe
sense: Place names including "Great"
word: Great Ayton
sense: Place names including "Great"
word: Great Bardfield
sense: Place names including "Great"
word: Great Barford
sense: Place names including "Great"
word: Great Barr
sense: Place names including "Great"
word: Great Barrier Island
sense: Place names including "Great"
word: Great Barrier Reef
sense: Place names including "Great"
word: Great Barton
sense: Place names including "Great"
word: Great Bavington
sense: Place names including "Great"
word: Great Bedwyn
sense: Place names including "Great"
word: Great Belt
sense: Place names including "Great"
word: Great Bend
sense: Place names including "Great"
word: Great Bentley
sense: Place names including "Great"
word: Great Bernera
sense: Place names including "Great"
word: Great Bookham
sense: Place names including "Great"
word: Great Bourton
sense: Place names including "Great"
word: Great Bowden
sense: Place names including "Great"
word: Great Bridge
sense: Place names including "Great"
word: Great Bridgeford
sense: Place names including "Great"
word: Great Britain
sense: Place names including "Great"
word: Great Broughton
sense: Place names including "Great"
word: Great Budworth
sense: Place names including "Great"
word: Great Chart
sense: Place names including "Great"
word: Great Chesterford
sense: Place names including "Great"
word: Great Cheverell
sense: Place names including "Great"
word: Great Comberton
sense: Place names including "Great"
word: Great Coxwell
sense: Place names including "Great"
word: Great Dalby
sense: Place names including "Great"
word: Great Dawley
sense: Place names including "Great"
word: Great Driffield
sense: Place names including "Great"
word: Great Dunmow
sense: Place names including "Great"
word: Great Ellingham
sense: Place names including "Great"
word: Great Elm
sense: Place names including "Great"
word: Great Falls
sense: Place names including "Great"
word: Great Glen
sense: Place names including "Great"
word: Great Gonerby
sense: Place names including "Great"
word: Great Hampden
sense: Place names including "Great"
word: Great Harrowden
sense: Place names including "Great"
word: Great Harwood
sense: Place names including "Great"
word: Great Haywood
sense: Place names including "Great"
word: Great Heck
sense: Place names including "Great"
word: Great Horton
sense: Place names including "Great"
word: Great Horwood
sense: Place names including "Great"
word: Great Houghton
sense: Place names including "Great"
word: Great Island
sense: Place names including "Great"
word: Great Kimble
sense: Place names including "Great"
word: Great Lakes
sense: Place names including "Great"
word: Great Longstone
sense: Place names including "Great"
word: Great Malvern
sense: Place names including "Great"
word: Great Missenden
sense: Place names including "Great"
word: Great Munden
sense: Place names including "Great"
word: Great Musgrave
sense: Place names including "Great"
word: Great Ness
sense: Place names including "Great"
word: Great North Road
sense: Place names including "Great"
word: Great Orme
sense: Place names including "Great"
word: Great Ouse
sense: Place names including "Great"
word: Great Pacific Garbage Patch
sense: Place names including "Great"
word: Great Paxton
sense: Place names including "Great"
word: Great Ponton
sense: Place names including "Great"
word: Great Rollright
sense: Place names including "Great"
word: Great Salkeld
sense: Place names including "Great"
word: Great Salt Lake
sense: Place names including "Great"
word: Great Sankey
sense: Place names including "Great"
word: Great Shefford
sense: Place names including "Great"
word: Great Shelford
sense: Place names including "Great"
word: Great Slave Lake
sense: Place names including "Great"
word: Great Snoring
sense: Place names including "Great"
word: Great Somerford
sense: Place names including "Great"
word: Great Southern
sense: Place names including "Great"
word: Great Stour
sense: Place names including "Great"
word: Great Sutton
sense: Place names including "Great"
word: Great Tew
sense: Place names including "Great"
word: Great Tey
sense: Place names including "Great"
word: Great Torrington
sense: Place names including "Great"
word: Great Urswick
sense: Place names including "Great"
word: Great Wakering
sense: Place names including "Great"
word: Great Wall of China
sense: Place names including "Great"
word: Great Waltham
sense: Place names including "Great"
word: Great Welnetham
sense: Place names including "Great"
word: Great Whelnetham
sense: Place names including "Great"
word: Great Witchingham
sense: Place names including "Great"
word: Great Wolford
sense: Place names including "Great"
word: Great Yarmouth
sense: Place names including "Great"
word: Great Yeldham