| / English Dictionary |
GREAT
| Pronunciation (US): |  | (GB): | |
I. (noun)
Sense 1
Meaning:
A person who has achieved distinction and honor in some field
Example:
he is one of the greats of American music
Classified under:
Hypernyms ("great" is a kind of...):
achiever; succeeder; success; winner (a person with a record of successes)
II. (adjective)
Sense 1
Meaning:
In an advanced stage of pregnancy
Example:
was great with child
Synonyms:
big; enceinte; expectant; gravid; great; heavy; large; with child
Classified under:
Similar:
pregnant (carrying developing offspring within the body or being about to produce new life)
Sense 2
Meaning:
Very good
Example:
we had a grand old time
Synonyms:
bang-up; bully; corking; cracking; dandy; great; groovy; keen; neat; nifty; not bad; old; peachy; slap-up; smashing; swell
Classified under:
Similar:
good (having desirable or positive qualities especially those suitable for a thing specified)
Domain usage:
colloquialism (a colloquial expression; characteristic of spoken or written communication that seeks to imitate informal speech)
Sense 3
Meaning:
Of major significance or importance
Example:
Einstein was one of the outstanding figures of the 20th centurey
Synonyms:
great; outstanding
Classified under:
Adjectives
Similar:
important; of import (of great significance or value)
Derivation:
greatness (the property possessed by something or someone of outstanding importance or eminence)
Sense 4
Meaning:
Relatively large in size or number or extent; larger than others of its kind
Example:
a great delay
Classified under:
Adjectives
Similar:
big; large (above average in size or number or quantity or magnitude or extent)
Derivation:
greatness (unusual largeness in size or extent or number)
Sense 5
Meaning:
Uppercase
Example:
many medieval manuscripts are in majuscule script
Synonyms:
Classified under:
Adjectives
Similar:
uppercase (relating to capital letters which were kept in the top half of a compositor's type case)
Sense 6
Meaning:
Remarkable or out of the ordinary in degree or magnitude or effect
Example:
had a great stake in the outcome
Classified under:
Adjectives
Similar:
extraordinary (beyond what is ordinary or usual; highly unusual or exceptional or remarkable)
Derivation:
greatness (unusual largeness in size or extent or number)
Context examples:
That night Buck faced the great problem of sleeping.
(The Call of the Wild, by Jack London)
Wolf Larsen, evidently, had sifted the great philosopher’s teachings, rejecting and selecting according to his needs and desires.
(The Sea-Wolf, by Jack London)
When was redeemed that great shame of my nation, the shame of Cassova, when the flags of the Wallach and the Magyar went down beneath the Crescent?
(Dracula, by Bram Stoker)
Dorothy lived in the midst of the great Kansas prairies, with Uncle Henry, who was a farmer, and Aunt Em, who was the farmer's wife.
(The Wonderful Wizard of Oz, by L. Frank Baum)
This little group forms the real family, for they travel about together, and Henderson is a great traveller, always on the move.
(His Last Bow, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)
Then these agonies began swiftly to subside, and I came to myself as if out of a great sickness.
(The Strange Case Of Dr. Jekyll And Mr. Hyde, by Robert Louis Stevenson)
Long John told the story from first to last, with a great deal of spirit and the most perfect truth.
(Treasure Island, by Robert Louis Stevenson)
But this discovery was so great and overwhelming that all the steps by which I had been progressively led to it were obliterated, and I beheld only the result.
(Frankenstein, by Mary Wollstonecraft Shelley)
He held up his candle, and there was a great, dark smudge upon the white plaster above us.
(Rodney Stone, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)
You have had no great truck with the world, she said, or you would have learned that it is the small men and not the great who hold their noses in the air.
(The White Company, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)
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