grand
- impressive in size, appearance, or general effect: grand mountain scenery.
- stately, majestic, or dignified: In front of an audience her manner is grand and regal.
- highly ambitious or idealistic: grand ideas for bettering the political situation.
- magnificent or splendid: a grand palace.
- noble or revered: a grand old man.
- highest, or very high, in rank or official dignity: a grand potentate.
- main or principal; chief: the grand ballroom.
- of great importance, distinction, or pretension: a man used to entertaining grand personages.
- complete or comprehensive: a grand total.
- pretending to grandeur, as a result of minor success, good fortune, etc.; conceited: Jane is awfully grand since she got promoted.
- first-rate; very good; splendid: to have a grand time; to feel grand.
- Music. written on a large scale or for a large ensemble: a grand fugue.
- grand piano.
- Informal. an amount equal to a thousand dollars: The cops found most of the loot, but they're still missing about five grand.
Origin of grand
Synonyms
See more synonyms for on Thesaurus.comAntonyms
Related Words
noblegrandioseawe-inspiringstatelymarveloussumptuouspalatialsplendidmagnificentopulentluxuriouslargeimposingmonumentaldignifiedambitiousgloriousloftymainaugustExamples from the Web for grandest
Contemporary Examples
Elizabeth Taylor, James Dean, and Rock Hudson all stayed at El Paisano, still the grandest hotel in town.
Still, Horowitz faces stiff competition when it comes to becoming a man in the grandest fashion.
But his grandest project so far has little to do with infrastructure.
Senegal Presidential Elections: Violence Flares Over Wade’s CandidacyArtis Henderson
February 26, 2012
The evolution and geology of the planet, then, is intricately linked on the grandest of scales with the evolution of life.
College football: "America's grandest monument to national hypocrisy."
Historical Examples
This is the grandest stroke of religious circumvention that ever was struck.
The Fall of British TyrannyJohn Leacock
Hence in his case also his achievements are on the grandest scale but of the worst.
The MemorabiliaXenophon
Oh, it was much nicer than the grandest gift the stores could offer.
HighacresJane Abbott
Each of these is up to the shoulders in the grandest game you ever dreamed of.
Dwellers in the HillsMelville Davisson Post
And these qualities are the grandest qualities of all superior people.
grand
- large or impressive in size, extent, or consequencegrand mountain scenery
- characterized by or attended with magnificence or display; sumptuousa grand feast
- of great distinction or pretension; dignified or haughty
- designed to impresshe punctuated his story with grand gestures
- very good; wonderful
- comprehensive; completea grand total
- worthy of respect; finea grand old man
- large or impressive in conception or executiongrand ideas
- most important; chiefthe grand arena
- short for grand piano
- plural grand slang a thousand pounds or dollars
Word Origin
Word Origin and History for grandest
grand
adj.
late 14c., grant "large, big" (early 12c. in surnames), from Anglo-French graunt and directly from Old French grant, grand (10c.) "large, tall; grown-up; great, powerful, important; strict, severe; extensive; numerous," from Latin grandis "big, great; full, abundant," also "full-grown;" figuratively "strong, powerful, weighty, severe" (perhaps cognate with Greek brenthyomai "to swagger, be haughty"). It supplanted magnus in Romanic languages; in English with a special sense of "imposing." The connotations of "noble, sublime, lofty, dignified," etc., were in Latin. As a general term of admiration, "magnificent, splendid," from 1816. Related: Grander; grandest.
The use of grand- in compounds, with the sense of "a generation older than, or younger than," is first attested c.1200, in Anglo-French graund dame "grandmother." Latin and Greek had similar usages.
Grand jury is late 15c. Grand piano from 1797. The grand tour of the principal sites of continental Europe, as part of a gentleman's education, is attested by that name from 1660s. The Grand Canyon was so called 1871 by Maj. John Wesley Powell, scientific adventurer, who explored it; earlier it had been known as Big Canyon.
grand
n.
"thousand dollars," 1915, American English underworld slang, from grand (adj.).