tall
Americanadjective
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taller,
comparative
-
tallest
superlative
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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.
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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).
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Archaic. valiant.
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Obsolete.
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seemly; proper.
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fine; handsome.
-
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
Synonym Usage
See high.
Other Word Forms
Derived Forms
Inflected Forms
Adjectives
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”
Explanation
If you can easily slap the ceiling with the palm of your hand, you're tall. The measure of your height tells you exactly how tall you are. You don't have to be tall to be a good basketball player, but it can come in handy when you're trying to get the ball in the basket. When it's not describing a person's stature, the adjective tall might refer to a beverage, like a tall glass of lemonade. A tall tale is an outlandish, hard-to-believe story, and a tall order is a really unreasonable request. And when you stand tall, you act confidently.
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.
See Examples For:
The oaks they give away are about 6 inches tall with six leaves, plus a whole foot of roots.
From Los Angeles Times ● Sep. 19, 2026
The tall man took Rita back to the bedroom and asked where their phones were.
From Slate ● Sep. 17, 2026
If fans need any extra entertainment, keep track of St. Francis’ two very tall basketball players on the field.
From Los Angeles Times ● Sep. 16, 2026
By then, I was 6 feet 3 inches tall.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Sep. 15, 2026
Beside him stood a tall young man, and a girl about Torak’s own age: Both had dark-red hair, smooth, pitiless faces, and flint arrows trained on his heart.
From "Wolf Brother" by Michelle Paver
The Times: Why did you oppose Senate Bill 79, which requires cities to allow taller, denser buildings near transit stops?
From Los Angeles Times ● Sep. 20, 2026
"She's 18 inches taller than me, I've got a Yorkshire accent and she's got a Northern Irish accent," Mindy says.
From BBC ● Sep. 19, 2026
The taller man, she said, had been “hopping around” like Roebuck’s nephew Jeramy Roebuck.
From Slate ● Sep. 17, 2026
The footwell was noticeably narrow even for me at 5’6” so someone taller would feel scrunched when fully stretched out.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 19, 2026
I’m taller than him now, but it still feels familiar.
From "Legendary Frybread Drive-In" by Cynthia Leitich Smith
He’ll presumably be the tallest person in California carrying water bottles.
From Los Angeles Times ● Sep. 16, 2026
This week, a set of Georgian developers are planning to launch marketing on the Trump Tower Tbilisi, unveiling renderings on a skyscraper poised to be the country’s tallest.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Sep. 13, 2026
The tree was named the 'Heaven Sword of the Da'an River,' and it was officially recognized as the tallest known tree in both Taiwan and East Asia.
From Science Daily ● Aug. 4, 2026
Among them was Nirmal Purja, also known as Nims, a British-Nepali climber most known for climbing the world's 14 tallest peaks in just over six months.
From BBC ● Aug. 3, 2026
It was a very small island, hardly a man’s height above the waves at its tallest point.
From "A Girl Named Disaster" by Nancy Farmer
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.
