gross
- without deductions; total, as the amount of sales, salary, profit, etc., before taking deductions for expenses, taxes, or the like (opposed to net2): gross earnings; gross sales.
- unqualified; complete; rank: a gross scoundrel.
- flagrant and extreme: gross injustice.
- indelicate, indecent, obscene, or vulgar: gross remarks.
- lacking in refinement, good manners, education, etc.; unrefined.
- large, big, or bulky.
- extremely or excessively fat.
- thick; dense; heavy: gross vegetation.
- 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.
- a group of 12 dozen, or 144, things. Abbreviation: gro.
- total income from sales, salary, etc., before any deductions (opposed to net2def 5).
- Obsolete. the main body, bulk, or mass.
- to have, make, or earn as a total before any deductions, as of taxes, expenses, etc.: The company grossed over three million dollars last year.
- gross out, Slang.
- to disgust or offend, especially by crude language or behavior.
- to shock or horrify.
Origin of gross
Synonyms
See more synonyms for on Thesaurus.comAntonyms
Related Words
coarsenessdirtinessindecencycurseimpurityindelicacyabominationevilfoulnessbawdinesslicentiousnessaffrontblightlewdnessatrocityfilthinessimproprietybluenessimmodestyoutrageousnessExamples from the Web for grossness
Contemporary Examples
While the rioting was obviously the low point of the week, it was more a continuation on a theme of grossness than a wild outlier.
Robert Kennedy hated Johnson's grossness, his lies, his bullying of staff, his self-indulgence with whisky and food.
Historical Examples
This man was evil, not with the grossness of a debauchee but with the thinness of the devotee.
Sir Henry Morgan, BuccaneerCyrus Townsend Brady
I might have known that one of your kind could not rise above the grossness in you.
Tess of the Storm CountryGrace Miller White
It was all in the other quarter that, after a lull, the grossness broke out.
The Turn of the ScrewHenry James
The grossness of his comedies rivalled that of Wycherley himself.
History of the English People, Volume VI (of 8)John Richard Green
All the grossness, superstition, and bad taste of the age were put into them.
FolkwaysWilliam Graham Sumner
gross
- repellently or excessively fat or bulky
- with no deductions for expenses, tax, etc; totalgross sales; gross income Compare net 2 (def. 1)
- (of personal qualities, tastes, etc) conspicuously coarse or vulgar
- obviously or exceptionally culpable or wrong; flagrantgross inefficiency
- lacking in perception, sensitivity, or discriminationgross judgments
- (esp of vegetation) dense; thick; luxuriant
- obsolete coarse in texture or quality
- rare rude; uneducated; ignorant
- an exclamation indicating disgust
- plural gross a unit of quantity equal to 12 dozen
- plural grosses
- the entire amount
- the great majority
- to earn as total revenue, before deductions for expenses, tax, etc
Word Origin
Word Origin and History for grossness
gross
adj.
mid-14c., "large;" early 15c., "coarse, plain, simple," from Old French gros "big, thick, fat, tall, pregnant; coarse, rude, awkward; ominous, important; arrogant" (11c.), from Late Latin grossus "thick, coarse (of food or mind)," of obscure origin, not in classical Latin. Said to be unrelated to Latin crassus, which meant the same thing, or to German gross "large," but said by Klein to be cognate with Old Irish bres, Middle Irish bras "big." Its meaning forked in English to "glaring, flagrant, monstrous" (1580s) on the one hand and "entire, total, whole" (early 15c.) on the other. Meaning "disgusting" is first recorded 1958 in U.S. student slang, from earlier use as an intensifier of unpleasant things (gross stupidity, etc.). Earlier "coarse in behavior or manners" (1530s) and, of things, "inferior, common" (late 15c.). Gross national product first recorded 1947.
gross
n.
"a dozen dozen," early 15c., from Old French grosse douzaine "large dozen;" see gross (adj.). Earlier as the name of a measure of weight equal to one-eighth of a dram (early 15c.). Sense of "total profit" (opposed to net) is from 1520s.
gross
v.
"to earn a total of," 1884, from gross (n.). Related: Grossed; grossing.
Gross
(grōs)Samuel David 1805-1884- American surgeon and educator who wrote widely influential medical treatises, including A System of Surgery (1859).
gross
Exclusive of deductions, prior to taxation, as in gross income. (Compare net.) Total, aggregate, as in gross domestic product.