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).
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
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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:
Monday saw Apple post forecast-topping sales and profits but warned that its gross margin -- the percentage of sales left after output costs -- would drop in October-December.
From Barron's ● Nov. 3, 2026
“We remain cautious on Apple in the near term, as accelerating memory-cost inflation pressures gross margins,” Bernstein analyst Mark Newman said in a note to clients.
From MarketWatch ● Nov. 3, 2026
These contributions exceed 27% of gross wages in France and 33% in Italy.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Nov. 1, 2026
He said the trust "being compelled to admit gross neglect" was the hardest thing.
From BBC ● Oct. 31, 2026
She looked intrigued, which was new, because Katie usually walks around with this distracted expression on her face, like she’s busy figuring the square root of the prime number closest to the gross national product.
From "Liar, Liar" by Gary Paulsen
Gross domestic product, the official scorecard of the economy, rose at a 3.4% annual pace in the third quarter, the government said in a separate report.
From MarketWatch ● Oct. 29, 2026
Gross profit topped Wall Street estimates and vehicle sales were up.
From Barron's ● Oct. 29, 2026
Gross domestic product expanded 1.0% in July-September from the previous quarter, following 0.6% growth in April-June, preliminary Bank of Korea data showed Tuesday.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Oct. 26, 2026
An own goal from Brighton's Pascal Gross swiftly followed by a goal from Alexander Isak, sees Liverpool beat the Seagulls 2-0 at Anfield to move into the Premier League top four.
From BBC ● Oct. 25, 2026
The annual costs were, relatively, more then than now, but in both cases less than 1 percent of the appropriate Gross National Product.
From "Cosmos" by Carl Sagan
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
In addition to prestige, an Oscar is a huge publicity generator that can translate into box office grosses, home video sales and streaming viewership.
From Los Angeles Times ● Feb. 20, 2025
Ticket sales from large format screens, including IMAX, made up about 40% of the opening weekend grosses.
From Seattle Times ● Apr. 28, 2024
Box office grosses are down, too: Broadway shows have grossed $1.2 billion so far this season, 14 percent below the level in early March of 2020.
From New York Times ● Mar. 12, 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
The first “Aquaman” was, by far, the biggest grosser in the DC Extended Universe, and Momoa has expressed doubt over the likelihood of his return as the character in the new plans.
From Los Angeles Times ● Dec. 22, 2023
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
Tripping and lifting out Olakunde and the sack of muskets, we floundered through the water to the grass, captives again of the grosser elements.
From "The Astonishing Life of Octavian Nothing, Traitor to the Nation, Volume II: The Kingdom on the Waves" by M.T. Anderson
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
His book, "Selective Breeding and the Birth of Philosophy," has become an Amazon bestseller because he's promoted by the grossest people on the internet.
From Salon ● Oct. 9, 2023
It was the grossest thing I’d ever heard, and I didn’t believe it for a second.
From "It All Comes Down to This" by Karen English
That number was aided by the massive box office reception for Christopher Nolan’s “The Odyssey,” which has grossed nearly $1.8 billion worldwide.
From Los Angeles Times ● Oct. 22, 2026
She says she grossed $300,000 last year and netted $90,000.
From MarketWatch ● Sep. 23, 2026
The film grossed $270 million worldwide on a $38 million budget, and Amy Madigan won an Oscar for best supporting actress for her performance as the equal-parts creepy and captivating witch Gladys.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Sep. 12, 2026
At the time, he was the first person who wrote about her in a way that didn’t make me feel grossed out.
From Salon ● Sep. 8, 2026
I got out cereal and milk, and it was so quiet between us that I was getting grossed out by the distinct sounds of our food-chewing processes.
From "Drums, Girls, and Dangerous Pie" by Jordan Sonnenblick
Measured by active driving time, that means he was grossing nearly $45.50 an hour.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Oct. 10, 2026
Since its August release, the film has become a modest, word-of-mouth success, grossing over $57 million worldwide.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Sep. 13, 2026
It is the highest grossing film of the year so far, Variety reported.
From Barron's ● Jul. 26, 2026
Disney’s live-action “Mufasa: The Lion King” opened in 2024 to a middling $35 million, but ended up grossing more than $722 million globally through the holiday season.
From Los Angeles Times ● Jul. 12, 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
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