tall
Americanadjective
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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.
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extravagant; difficult to believe.
a tall tale.
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He engages in so much tall talk, one never really knows what he's saying.
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having more than usual length; long and relatively narrow.
He carried a tall walking stick.
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(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.
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adverb
noun
adjective
-
of more than average height
-
-
(postpositive) having a specified height
a woman five feet tall
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( in combination )
a twenty-foot-tall partition
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informal exaggerated or incredible
a tall story
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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
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.
Developers may build housing up to nine stories tall for buildings adjacent to certain transit stops, seven stories for buildings within a quarter-mile and six stories for buildings within a half-mile.
From Los Angeles Times • Jun. 9, 2026
Towering at 6ft 5in tall, with long, flowing blond hair, Haaland has become one of the most recognisable players in football.
From BBC • Jun. 7, 2026
Discovery stands 58 feet tall, 122 feet long and has a wingspan of 78 feet, which would extend across nearly seven lanes of traffic.
From The Wall Street Journal • Jun. 3, 2026
The NBA has had extremely tall players before—here, I’m talking 7-foot-4 and up, Dubai skyscraper range—but usually they’ve handled the basketball like a toaster in the bathtub.
From The Wall Street Journal • Jun. 1, 2026
A tall sallow-faced young man arrived from Pickwick one morning to teach me how to conduct the drills.
From "The Hiding Place" by Corrie ten Boom
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.
