great
Taking much space; large.
Adjective 4 meanings
Taking much space; large.
Very good; excellent; wonderful; fantastic.
“Dinner was great.”
Important, consequential.
“a great dilemma”
Involving more generations than the qualified word implies — as many extra generations as repetitions of the word great (from 1510s).
“great-grandfather, great-great-grandfather, great-great-great-grandfather”
Interjection 2 meanings
Expression of gladness and content about something.
“Great! Thanks for the wonderful work.”
A 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.”
Noun 3 meanings
A person of major significance, accomplishment or acclaim.
“Newton and Einstein are two of the greats of the history of science.”
The main division in a pipe organ, usually the loudest division.
An instance of the word great signifying an additional generation in phrases expressing family relationships.
“my three-greats grandmother”
Adverb 1 meaning
Very well (in a very satisfactory manner).
“Those mechanical colored pencils work great because they don’t have to be sharpened.”
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”).
Similar and opposite words
GREAT at a glance
GREAT has 5 letters and scores 6 points in Scrabble (G 2 + R 1 + E 1 + A 1 + T 1) and 7 in Words With Friends, before board bonuses. It ranks #132 by how often it appears in everyday English. It is valid in ENABLE, NWL2023, Collins/SOWPODS.
Rhymes with great
All rhymesOne letter away
- TREAT5
- GREET6
- GROAT6
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