gross
adjective
without deductions; total, as the amount of sales, salary, profit, etc., before taking deductions for expenses, taxes, or the like (opposed to net).
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Groesse.
gross
1 American
[grohs]
/ groʊs /
adjective
-
grosser,
comparative
-
grossest
superlative
-
without deductions; total, as the amount of sales, salary, profit, etc., before taking deductions for expenses, taxes, or the like (opposed to net).
gross earnings;
gross sales.
-
a gross scoundrel.
-
flagrant and extreme.
gross injustice.
- Synonyms:
- grievous, heinous, outrageous, absolute, downright
-
indelicate, indecent, obscene, or vulgar.
gross remarks.
- Antonyms:
- decent
-
lacking in refinement, good manners, education, etc.; unrefined.
-
large, big, or bulky.
- Antonyms:
- small, diminutive
-
extremely or excessively fat.
-
of or concerning only the broadest or most general considerations, aspects, etc.
-
Slang. extremely objectionable, offensive, or disgusting.
He wore an outfit that was absolutely gross.
-
gross vegetation;
gross fog;
gross vapors.
noun
-
gross,
plural
-
grosses
plural
-
a group of 12 dozen, or 144, things. gro.
-
total income from sales, salary, etc., before any deductions (opposed to net).
-
Obsolete. the main body, bulk, or mass.
verb (used with object)
-
grosses,
present (3rd person singular)
-
grossed,
past participle, past
-
grossing
present participle
verb phrase
Gross
2
American
[grohs]
/ groʊs /
noun
gross
British
/ ɡrəʊs /
adjective
-
repellently or excessively fat or bulky
-
with no deductions for expenses, tax, etc; total Compare net 2
gross sales
gross income
-
(of personal qualities, tastes, etc) conspicuously coarse or vulgar
-
obviously or exceptionally culpable or wrong; flagrant
gross inefficiency
-
lacking in perception, sensitivity, or discrimination
gross judgments
-
(esp of vegetation) dense; thick; luxuriant
-
obsolete coarse in texture or quality
-
rare rude; uneducated; ignorant
interjection
noun
-
a unit of quantity equal to 12 dozen
-
-
the entire amount
-
the great majority
-
verb
gross
Cultural
Usage
What’s the difference between gross and net? In the context of finance and accounting, gross refers to the total amount before any deductions, while net refers to the final amount that remains after deductions have been made. Of course, gross and net are common words with many other meanings, but these senses of gross and net are used in the context of measuring something (especially money) that has been accumulated—profit, income, earnings, gains, etc. The amount described or referred to as gross is everything that has been taken in, not accounting for things like debts, deductions, and expenses. The amount described or referred to as net is how much you have left after you’ve subtracted anything that doesn’t count toward profit, like debts and expenses. In other words, net is basically gross minus whatever you owe or have spent. For this reason, net is always lower than gross. For example, let’s say you decide to sell cupcakes at a bake sale. You spend $15 on ingredients, and you have to rent a table for $5, which equals $20 in expenses. Good news, you make $50 in cupcake sales. Your gross is $50. Minus the $20 in expenses, your net is $30. You could say you grossed $50 and netted $30. To remember the difference, remember that a net sifts whatever goes into it so that only some remains. Here’s an example of gross and net used correctly in the same sentence. Example: For this quarter, gross income was $2 million, but $1. 25 million in expenses and outstanding debts resulted in a net of only $750,000. Want to learn more? Read the full breakdown of the difference between gross and net.
Synonym Usage
See flagrant.
Other Word Forms
Derived Forms
-
grossnessnoun
-
overgrossnessnoun
-
outgrossverb (used with object)
-
overgrossadjective
-
ungrossadjective
-
grosslyadverb
Inflected Forms
Nouns
Adjectives
Participles
Conjugated Forms
Present
-
grosssimple
-
grossessimple
-
have grossedperfect
-
has grossedperfect
-
am grossingprogressive
-
are grossingprogressive
-
is grossingprogressive
-
have been grossingperfect progressive
-
has been grossingperfect progressive
Past
-
grossedsimple
-
had grossedperfect
-
was grossingprogressive
-
were grossingprogressive
-
had been grossingperfect progressive
Future
Etymology
Origin of gross
First recorded in 1350–1400; Middle English, from Old French gros “large” (as noun, grosse “twelve dozen”), from Late Latin gross(us) “thick, coarse”
Explanation
Get ready, because gross has a few different meanings. When something is gross, it's disgusting. The noun, a gross, is the complete amount (before expenses), and the verb "to gross" is to bring in money. Two things will tell you which meaning is the right one with a word like gross: the part of speech and the context. If you're talking about awful, sickening, vile things, you're looking at the adjective gross. If you're referring to, say, how much money a movie made, that's the noun gross; but remember, the gross is how much the movie made in total, not how much it cleared in profit after expenses (the net). As a noun, gross can also be a unit of measurement: if your teacher orders a gross of pencils, he'll get a shipment of 12 dozen. The verb to gross means to pull in money, as in: the bake sale grossed 30 dollar.
Vocabulary lists containing gross
More Negative Words to Describe a Person
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Economics
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"Principles of Business," Vocabulary from Chapter 2
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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:
The BEA also releases its revised second-quarter estimate for gross domestic product growth.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 24, 2026
Assuming all shares are placed, gross proceeds will total HK$80.0 billion, equivalent to US$10.2 billion, which Alibaba said it will use exclusively to invest in its AI capabilities.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 24, 2026
He sees that as a tailwind for Apple’s gross margin.
From MarketWatch ● Aug. 21, 2026
The gross U.S. national debt at the end of 2024 — in other words, at the end of the Biden administration — was $35.2 trillion, as reported by the independent Congressional Budget Office.
From MarketWatch ● Aug. 21, 2026
He’d passed it to me one day with a note that read, This is gross.
From "Bye Forever, I Guess" by Jodi Meadows
Gross domestic product in the eurozone’s largest economy increased 0.3% on quarter in the three months through June, faster than the 0.2% first reported at the end of last month, Germany’s statistics agency said Tuesday.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 25, 2026
Gross domestic product grew 0.3 percent from April to June compared with the first three months of the year, according to revised data from the statistics office Destatis.
From Barron's ● Aug. 25, 2026
"The box office generally slows during the second half of August as kids start returning to school, but right now business remains extremely strong," said industry analyst David A. Gross.
From Barron's ● Aug. 16, 2026
Gross is involved in all set-pieces, including penalties, and provides steady midfield returns.
From BBC ● Aug. 14, 2026
The elder Gross had been to a local chocolate maker.
From "Class Matters" by The New York Times
Today it is mostly flourishing: Broadway is among the country’s major tourist attractions, even if the mighty grosses logged by the big hits disguise the medium’s precarious finances.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jan. 30, 2026
Strong reviews from audiences and critics bode well for the film’s future grosses and its eventual performance on streaming for Apple.
From Los Angeles Times ● Jun. 29, 2025
But this spring seems especially crammed, even though Broadway attendance still has not returned to prepandemic levels, and grosses were down 14 percent as of early March compared with the same period in 2020.
From New York Times ● Apr. 10, 2024
"A sweeping story about the ethical dilemma of nuclear weapons grosses $1bn?" he joked of the film, which admittedly hadn't sounded punter-friendly on paper.
From BBC ● Jan. 13, 2024
The thought of the false teeth currently chillin’ in their purple glitter container inside G’ma’s purse almost grosses Scoob out as much as the oysters.
From "Clean Getaway" by Nic Stone
It was a movie, the biggest Hollywood grosser of the year.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jun. 11, 2026
In that vacuum, normal people were tuning out altogether, because the election seemed grosser and sadder by the minute.
From Salon ● Aug. 9, 2024
Tom Cruise always has the answer, though: the top grosser of the day was Top Gun: Maverick, which added about $6 million to its box office haul.
From The Verge ● Sep. 5, 2022
In fact, some of the best sunsets appear in the winter, when a damp wind can broom away the grosser air.
From Los Angeles Times ● Jan. 18, 2022
If anybody committed any of the grosser errors —such as putting metal on metal or colour on colour—he became electrified with passion.
From "The Once and Future King" by T. H. White
Even though Coleman sometimes showcases customers’ grossest problems, he’s never heard from a client who was unhappy with a post.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 23, 2026
Judge Patrick Lynch KC told the former teacher that he had violated the trust placed in him "in the grossest manner".
From BBC ● Apr. 28, 2026
In a judicial attention economy, we have a lot of judges who all want the president’s solo attention waving their hands and saying: No, I am the grossest one of all!
From Slate ● Mar. 13, 2026
“I thought, ‘What is the grossest, most awkward, weirdest way to give them their first kiss,’” Sloane said in a recent video call from her home in Los Angeles.
From New York Times ● Feb. 12, 2024
Being in charge of the bathroom pass sounded like the grossest job in the whole world.
From Absolutely Almost by Lisa Graff
His movies have grossed roughly $5 billion worldwide.
From Los Angeles Times ● Aug. 20, 2026
Starring Amelia Eve, Lin Shaye, Brandon Perea, and Sam Spruell, "Insidious: Out of the Further" introduces new directions and characters to a franchise that has grossed over $740 million at the global box office.
From Barron's ● Aug. 19, 2026
The horror flick, which hit theaters in May, was made in Los Angeles for a budget of $750,000 and has since grossed nearly $475 million worldwide.
From Los Angeles Times ● Aug. 5, 2026
That picture grossed $357 million in its debut from the U.S. and Canada and went on to achieve a global gross of $2.8 billion.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 2, 2026
The idea of sitting on his bed grossed me out, but I could throw my sleeping bag on top of it.
From "Keep It Together, Keiko Carter" by Debbi Michiko Florence
Industry watcher Sensor Tower’s grossing data has shown a year-over-year growth uptick since June, reflecting solid momentum from evergreen titles such as “Fantasy Westward Journey” and “Eggy Party,” he says.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 21, 2026
It is now Sony Picture's highest-ever grossing film, according to the Hollywood Reporter.
From Barron's ● Aug. 16, 2026
That film is currently the highest grossing film of the year, taking in more than $1bn.
From BBC ● Jun. 22, 2026
But “Stronger” returned dismal numbers at the box office, grossing just $7.7 million on a $30 million budget.
From Salon ● May 27, 2026
I figured she was grossing me out as revenge for not eating her chicken dinner.
From "Three Little Words: A Memoir" by Ashley Rhodes-Courter
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.
