great
adjective
unusually or comparatively large in size or dimensions.
great
American
[greyt]
/ greɪt /
adjective
-
greater,
comparative
-
greatest
superlative
-
unusually or comparatively large in size or dimensions.
A great fire destroyed nearly half the city.
- Antonyms:
- small
-
large in number; numerous.
Great hordes of tourists descend on Europe each summer.
-
unusual or considerable in degree, power, intensity, etc..
great pain.
-
wonderful; very good; first-rate.
We had a great time.
That's great!
-
being such in an extreme or notable degree.
great friends;
a great talker.
-
exceptionally outstanding; notable; remarkable.
a great occasion.
- Synonyms:
- noteworthy
-
highly significant or consequential; important.
the great issues in American history.
- Antonyms:
- insignificant
-
a great inventor.
- Antonyms:
- insignificant
-
of noble or lofty character.
great thoughts.
-
chief or principal.
the great hall;
his greatest novel.
-
of high rank, official position, or social standing.
a great noble.
- Antonyms:
- insignificant
-
much in use or favor.
“Humor” was a great word with the old physiologists.
-
of extraordinary powers; having unusual merit; very admirable.
a great statesman.
-
of considerable duration or length.
We waited a great while for the train.
-
Informal.
-
being of one generation more remote from the family relative specified (used in combination).
a great-grandson.
adverb
noun
-
greats,
plural
-
great
plural
-
a person who has achieved importance or distinction in a field.
She is one of the theater's greats.
-
great persons, collectively.
England's literary great.
-
Also called great go. (often initial capital letter) greats,
-
the final examination for the bachelor's degree in the classics and mathematics, or Literae Humaniores, especially at Oxford University and usually for honors.
-
the course of study.
-
the subject studied.
-
interjection
-
(used to express acceptance, appreciation, approval, admiration, etc.)
-
(used ironically or facetiously to express disappointment, annoyance, distress, etc.).
Great! We just missed the last train home.
idioms
great
1
British
/ ɡreɪt /
adjective
-
relatively large in size or extent; big
-
relatively large in number; having many parts or members
a great assembly
-
of relatively long duration
a great wait
-
of larger size or more importance than others of its kind
the great auk
-
extreme or more than usual
great worry
-
of significant importance or consequence
a great decision
-
-
of exceptional talents or achievements; remarkable
a great writer
-
( as noun )
the great
one of the greats
-
-
arising from or possessing idealism in thought, action, etc; heroic
great deeds
-
illustrious or eminent
a great history
-
impressive or striking
a great show of wealth
-
much in use; favoured
poetry was a great convention of the Romantic era
-
active or enthusiastic
a great walker
-
doing or exemplifying (a characteristic or pursuit) on a large scale
what a great buffoon
he's not a great one for reading
-
(often foll by at) skilful or adroit
a great carpenter
you are great at singing
-
informal excellent; fantastic
-
informal (intensifier)
a dirty great smack in the face
-
archaic
-
pregnant
great with child
-
full (of)
great with hope
-
-
(intensifier, used in mild oaths)
Great Scott!
-
informal
-
to be informed about
-
to be enthusiastic about or for
-
adverb
noun
great-
2
British
prefix
-
being the parent of a person's grandparent (in the combinations great-grandfather, great-grandmother, great-grandparent )
-
being the child of a person's grandchild (in the combinations great-grandson, great-granddaughter, great-grandchild )
great
More Idioms
Usage
What are other ways to say great? Something that is great may be unusually or comparatively large in size or number. How is great different from the adjectives large and big? Find out more on Thesaurus.com.
Other Word Forms
Derived Forms
-
greatnessnoun
-
half-greatadjective
-
overgreatadjective
-
quasi-greatadjective
-
greatlyadverb
-
overgreatlyadverb
-
quasi-greatlyadverb
Inflected Forms
Nouns
Adjectives
Etymology
Origin of great
First recorded before 900; Middle English greet, Old English grēat; cognate with Dutch groot, German gross
Explanation
As an adjective great describes things that are very good, large, or important — like a great movie, a great forest, or a great battle that changed the course of a war. Great can also be a noun: a person who is a legend in his or her field, like Aretha Franklin, a soul great, or Wayne Gretzky — a hockey great who became known as "the Great One." Only a few people qualify for the distinction of being a great — it takes a remarkable talent that continues to awe people long after the person's heyday.
Vocabulary lists containing great
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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:
“When Jason came to Amsterdam, by that point I was fully a zealot. It was like a new recipe. ‘This thing is great!’
From Los Angeles Times ● Aug. 9, 2026
Hewitt said: "They're a great little bird. Because we're saving this place specifically for cirl buntings, we're also creating habitat for lots of other birds."
From BBC ● Aug. 9, 2026
Zoh-Mart would be great branding for New York’s city-run grocery stores—though they’re doomed to fail.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 9, 2026
Despite his great wealth, Perot had a homespun approach and used the media very effectively.
From Salon ● Aug. 9, 2026
The bust of President Lincoln would bring great dignity to our library shelf.
From "The Teacher’s Funeral" by Richard Peck
Think about that: The most plausible explanation for this series of events is that George Richardson’s father, my great- great-great grandfather, was born aboard a slave ship.
From Slate ● Dec. 19, 2022
Rogers’ great-, great-, great-grandfather was born enslaved and went on to become a successful lawyer who served in the Virginia House of Delegates from 1889 to 1890.
From Seattle Times ● Sep. 12, 2021
An investigator could then build out a large family tree, first identifying the ancestors the two cousins have in common, such as great- or great-great-grandparents, and then investigating individual branches from those ancestors.
From New York Times ● May 3, 2021
John Jeffries, 74, knew Daniel, his great- grandfather, who died at nearly 100 in 1956.
From Washington Times ● Jan. 31, 2016
I think about my great- and great-great-grandparents and all those early Buttles.
From "The Truth as Told by Mason Buttle" by Leslie Connor
"That's why you have some of the greats in women's sports. If Title IX and women's sports weren't protected, then you wouldn't hear about any type of women in sport."
From Barron's ● Jul. 23, 2026
After moving to Los Angeles, he became a favorite live and session player for many midcentury greats, including Frank Sinatra, Nat King Cole and Marvin Gaye.
From Los Angeles Times ● Jul. 21, 2026
Yet the lasting images from both tournaments are of all-time greats such as Kylian Mbappé and Lionel Messi dancing on the field.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jul. 18, 2026
"The 1958 tournament was the last real goal-fest tournament. You had the emerging Brazil team with Pele, but also the French team were all-time greats," he said.
From BBC ● Jul. 13, 2026
Like all athletic greats, Woolf was a driving perfectionist.
From "Seabiscuit: An American Legend" by Laura Hillenbrand
With less of a coastal buffer, any large waves that come in “will have even greater impact on the shoreline, with more likelihood of flooding and undercutting of cliffs,” he added.
From Los Angeles Times ● Aug. 10, 2026
The three-term governor’s Democratic opponent, Gina Hinojosa, has made greater oversight of data centers a key piece of her campaign.
From Salon ● Aug. 10, 2026
"Data shows, if they are diagnosed at an earlier stage, medication outcomes are greater."
From BBC ● Aug. 9, 2026
It found that, in some fire-prone ecosystems, protected areas experience larger burned areas and higher fire severity than comparable unprotected forests, largely associated with greater fuel loads and reduced accessibility.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 9, 2026
Jet Stone Girl and Jet Stone Boy held each other’s hands and were staring at the stars that were appearing in greater and greater numbers by the second.
From "Healer of the Water Monster" by Brian Young
According to Royal Museums Greenwich, this is the greatest coverage visible from the UK since 1999.
From BBC ● Aug. 10, 2026
Its greatest value lies in what the metacrystal can do.
From Science Daily ● Aug. 8, 2026
The Seattle Mariners catcher had one of the greatest slugging performances in baseball history in 2025, becoming just the seventh player to bash 60 home runs in a single season.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 7, 2026
It went on to win three Grammy Awards and remains, for many people, the Queen of Pop's greatest record.
From BBC ● Aug. 7, 2026
“Because of you. Because of humans like you, taking their greatest blessing for granted.”
From "Kwame Crashes the Underworld" by Craig Kofi 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.
