tall
Americanadjective
-
having a relatively great height; of more than average stature: tall grass.
a tall woman;
tall grass.
- Antonyms:
- short
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having stature or height as specified.
a man six feet tall.
-
large in amount or degree; considerable.
a tall price;
Swinging that deal is a tall order.
-
extravagant; difficult to believe.
a tall tale.
-
He engages in so much tall talk, one never really knows what he's saying.
-
having more than usual length; long and relatively narrow.
He carried a tall walking stick.
-
(of a drink) consisting of liquor mixed with other ingredients and served in a large glass, as a cocktail.
We watched as he put together a Mamie Taylor, a tall drink with Scotch, ginger beer, and lime.
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Tall, (of beverages at Starbucks coffee shops) being of a small size equal to 12 ounces (354 milliliters).
-
Archaic. valiant.
-
Obsolete.
-
seemly; proper.
-
fine; handsome.
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adverb
noun
adjective
-
of more than average height
-
-
(postpositive) having a specified height
a woman five feet tall
-
( in combination )
a twenty-foot-tall partition
-
-
informal exaggerated or incredible
a tall story
-
informal difficult to accomplish
a tall order
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an archaic word for excellent
Related Words
See high.
Other Word Forms
- tallness noun
Etymology
Origin of tall
First recorded before 1000; Middle English: “big, bold, comely, proper, ready,” Old English getæl (plural getale ) “quick, ready, competent”; cognate with Old High German gizal “quick”
Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
Burnaby was tall—6 feet 4 inches—and many said he was the strongest man in the British Army, capable of carrying a pony under each arm.
Their reconstruction reveals a tall crest running along the neck and torso, a row of spikes down the tail, and hooves that enclosed the toes.
From Science Daily
The inferno -- the financial hub's worst in decades -- sent shock waves through the city, which has some of the world's most densely populated and tallest residential blocks.
From Barron's
About 6,000 people live in the town, which has an economic development webpage featuring images of a tractor, a duck and a pair of hunters standing in the tall grass.
From Los Angeles Times
Hong Kong has some of the world's most densely populated -- and tallest -- apartment blocks.
From Barron's
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
