a commissioned military officer ranking next below a lieutenant colonel and next above a captain.
one of superior rank, ability, etc., in a specified class.
Education.
a subject or field of study chosen by a student to represent their principal interest and upon which a large share of their efforts are concentrated.
History was my major in college.
a student engaged in such study.
a person of full legal age (opposed to minor).
Music. a major interval, chord, scale, etc.
the majors,
Sports. the major leagues.
He coached in the majors as well as in the minors.
the companies or organizations that lead or control a particular field of activity.
the oil majors.
greater in size, extent, or importance.
the major part of the town.
great, as in rank or importance: a major artist.
a major political issue;
a major artist.
serious or risky.
a major operation.
of or relating to the majority.
the major opinion.
of full legal age.
Music.
(of an interval) being between the tonic and the second, third, sixth, or seventh degrees of a major scale: a major sixth.
a major third;
a major sixth.
(of a chord) having a major third between the root and the note next above it.
pertaining to the subject in which a student takes the most courses.
Her major field is English history.
(initial capital letter) (of one of two male students in an English public school who have the same surname) being the elder or higher in standing.
Hobbes Major is not of a scientific bent.
Clarence, born 1936, U.S. novelist and poet.
John, born 1943, British political leader: prime minister 1990–97.
military an officer immediately junior to a lieutenant colonel
a person who is superior in a group or class
a large or important company
the oil majors
(often preceded by the) music a major key, chord, mode, or scale
the principal field of study of a student at a university, etc
his major is sociology
a student who is studying a particular subject as his principal field
a sociology major
a person who has reached the age of legal majority
logic a major term or premise
a principal or important record company, film company, etc
(plural) the major leagues
larger in extent, number, etc
the major part
of greater importance or priority
very serious or significant
a major disaster
main, chief, or principal
of, involving, or making up a majority
music
(of a scale or mode) having notes separated by the interval of a whole tone, except for the third and fourth degrees, and seventh and eighth degrees, which are separated by a semitone
relating to or employing notes from the major scale
a major key
(postpositive) denoting a specified key or scale as being major
C major
denoting a chord or triad having a major third above the root
(in jazz) denoting a major chord with a major seventh added above the root
logic constituting the major term or major premise of a syllogism
of or relating to a student's principal field of study at a university, etc
the elder: used after a schoolboy's surname if he has one or more younger brothers in the same school
Price major
of full legal age
(postpositive) Leisure:Bell-ringing of, relating to, or denoting a method rung on eight bells
to do one's principal study (in a particular subject)
to major in English literature
to take or deal with as the main area of interest
the book majors on the peasant dishes
See capital 1.
First recorded in 1350–1400; from Latin, comparative of magnus “great, large”; replacing Middle English maio(u)r, majour, from Anglo-French, from Latin, as above; see origin at majesty
Something major is big, big, big! It's major, baby! It's large! Important! Intense! Powerful! Michael Jackson's album "Thriller" was major, eventually becoming the biggest-selling album of all time. A victory of 98 to 3 might well be called major. If you're a musician, you're probably also familiar with the difference between a minor scale and a major scale. A major scale sounds happy, while a minor one sounds sad. The discovery of life on another planet? Major. Getting into the college of your choice? Major. For everything else, there's "ordinary."
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Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
Their focus on youth has been viewed as a factor in their inability to challenge consistently for major honours.
From BBC ● Jul. 29, 2026
Amazon alone has committed to releasing at least 15 major theatrical films annually by 2027 and has the balance sheet to back it up.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jul. 28, 2026
"With major tech companies increasing their AI infrastructure investments, additional supply requests continue to mount," the company said in a statement.
From Barron's ● Jul. 28, 2026
And, if major league owners get their way, something that might never be done again.
From Los Angeles Times ● Jul. 28, 2026
Other mushers had helped me some, but a major food chain had butter and a dry beverage powder at all the checkpoints as a promotional stunt.
From "Woodsong" by Gary Paulsen
Major hyperscalers and more than a dozen of neocloud companies and AI labs that once might have looked at natural-gas powered and other combustion technologies now choose Bloom as a “superior power solution,” he added.
From MarketWatch ● Jul. 28, 2026
Major employers largely held back on adding people due to economic uncertainties or a belief that artificial intelligence could shoulder more tasks on the job.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jul. 27, 2026
Major chip stocks were falling on Friday, with the shares weighed down by a “handful of narratives,” according to one expert.
From MarketWatch ● Jul. 24, 2026
At the time of their visit, the Dodgers had the best record in Major League Baseball with 65 wins and 38 losses.
From Los Angeles Times ● Jul. 24, 2026
He thought that Handsome and Major Puff shared common qualities and might become good friends under the right circumstances.
From "The Very, Very Far North" by Dan Bar-el
And, although the Dodgers pride themselves on running a team whose championship window never closes, they already field the oldest lineup in the majors.
From Los Angeles Times ● Jul. 28, 2026
Universities should streamline general-education requirements, trim unnecessary electives and make students declare their majors by the end of freshman year.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jul. 16, 2026
As he began his bid to win two majors in the same season for the first time since 2014, McIlroy lurched from the sublime off the tee to the ridiculous on the green.
From BBC ● Jul. 16, 2026
Wrobleski returned to the majors in mostly a bullpen role.
From Los Angeles Times ● Jul. 13, 2026
The tumor in the sergeant majors throat, reports the doctor, has grown to four centimeters in diameter.
From "All the Light We Cannot See" by Anthony Doerr
After coming through the LTA system, Fery opted to go on a scholarship to Stanford University in California - a prestigious institution that specialises in research - and majored in science, technology and society.
From BBC ● Jul. 6, 2026
But AI wasn’t allowed for quizzes or exams testing memorized subjects, said the 22-year-old, who majored in business computer information systems.
From MarketWatch ● Jun. 22, 2026
Annika Duneja is a recent graduate of the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, where she majored in journalism and business and minored in French.
From Los Angeles Times ● May 26, 2026
There, she majored in illustration and took a six-week winter glass-working course that changed her life.
From Los Angeles Times ● May 18, 2026
He majored in English history, which was a mistake.
From "Catch-22" by Joseph Heller
Starting in 2013, the number of students majoring in sociology dropped from 31,000 to 21,000 in 2024.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jul. 25, 2026
While studying in an NYU library, he met Sarah Fryer, who was majoring in psychology and biology.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jun. 25, 2026
He is a student at Syracuse University, majoring in magazine, news and digital journalism.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jun. 18, 2026
He walked onto the team at Texas A&M, majoring in business finance, planning to stick around campus long enough to earn a master’s degree.
From Los Angeles Times ● May 17, 2026
“Yeah. She’s interested as hell in all that stuff. She’s majoring in psychology.”
From "Nine Stories" by J. D. Salinger
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.
