Word: great Part of Speech: adj Etymology: From Middle English greet, grete (“great, large”), from Old English grēat (“big, massive; tall; thick; coarse”), from Proto-West Germanic *graut, from Proto-Germanic *grautaz (“coarse, crude; big, large”), from Proto-Indo-European *gʰrewd-, *gʰer- (“to rub; to stroke; to grind; to remove”). Cognates Cognate with Scots graat, great, greet (“great”), Yola graat (“great”), North Frisian grat, groot, grot, grut, gråt, gurt (“big, great, large”), Saterland Frisian groot (“big, large”), West Frisian grut (“big, great, large”), Alemannic German groß, gruuss (“very large”), Central Franconian jruß (“big, great, large”), Cimbrian gròas, groaz (“big, great, large”), Dutch and German Low German groot (“big, great, large”), German gross, groß (“big, large”), Limburgish grut, gruët (“big, large; grand; tall; adult; pregnant”), Luxembourgish grouss (“big, great, large”), Mòcheno groas (“big, great, large”), Vilamovian grus, grūs (“big, great, large”), Yiddish גרויס (groys, “big, large”); also Latin grandis (“big, great, large”), Greek χρίω (chrío, “to anoint”), Albanian grind (“to brawl, fight”), Latvian grauds (“grain”), Lithuanian grūdas (“grain”), Czech hrouda, hruda (“clod”), Macedonian грутка (grutka, “clod, clump, lump”), Polish gruda (“clod, lump; frozen ground; mud fever, scratches”), Russian гру́да (grúda, “clod, heap, mass, pile”), Serbo-Croatian гру̏да, гру̏два, grȕda, grȕdva (“clod, lump; snowball”), Armenian կորկոտ (korkot, “groats of wheat or barley”), Sanskrit घर्षति (gharṣati, “to brush, polish, rub”). 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. Pronunciation: /ˈɡɹeɪt/, /ˈɡɹɛjt/, /ˈɡɹæɪt/, /ˈɡɾet/, /ˈɡɾeːt/ 1. Taking much space; large. Example: “[…] 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.[…]” Example: ‘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.[…]’ 2. Taking much space; large. Example: great worry Example: “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?” 3. Taking much space; large. Labels: UK, informal Example: a dirty great smack in the face Example: Great Scott! 4. Very good; excellent; wonderful; fantastic. Labels: informal Example: Dinner was great. Example: 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. 5. Important, consequential. Example: a great dilemma Example: a great decision 6. Involving more generations than the qualified word implies — as many extra generations as repetitions of the word great (from 1510s). Example: great-grandfather, great-great-grandfather, great-great-great-grandfather 7. Pregnant; large with young; full of. Labels: obsolete, postpositional Example: great with child Example: great with hope 8. Intimate; familiar. Labels: obsolete Example: those that are so great with him 9. Arising from or possessing idealism; admirable; commanding; illustrious; eminent. Example: a great deed Example: a great nature 10. Impressive or striking. Example: a great show of wealth 11. Much in use; favoured. Example: Poetry was a great convention of the Romantic era. 12. Of much talent or achievements. Example: a great hero, scholar, genius, philosopher, writer, etc. 13. Doing or exemplifying (a characteristic or pursuit) on a large scale; active or enthusiastic. Example: What a great buffoon! Example: He’s not a great one for reading.