mass
- a body of coherent matter, usually of indefinite shape and often of considerable size: a mass of dough.
- a collection of incoherent particles, parts, or objects regarded as forming one body: a mass of sand.
- aggregate; whole (usually preceded by in the): People, in the mass, mean well.
- a considerable assemblage, number, or quantity: a mass of errors; a mass of troops.
- bulk, size, expanse, or massiveness: towers of great mass and strength.
- Fine Arts.
- Painting.an expanse of color or tone that defines form or shape in general outline rather than in detail.
- a shape or three-dimensional volume that has or gives the illusion of having weight, density, and bulk.
- the main body, bulk, or greater part of anything: the great mass of American films.
- Physics. the quantity of matter as determined from its weight or from Newton's second law of motion. Abbreviation: mCompare weight(def 2), relativistic mass, rest mass.
- Pharmacology. a preparation of thick, pasty consistency, from which pills are made.
- the masses, the ordinary or common people as a whole; the working classes or the lower social classes.
- pertaining to, involving, or affecting a large number of people: mass unemployment; mass migrations; mass murder.
- participated in or performed by a large number of people, especially together in a group: mass demonstrations; mass suicide.
- pertaining to, involving, or characteristic of the mass of the people: the mass mind; a movie designed to appeal to a mass audience.
- reaching or designed to reach a large number of people: television, newspapers, and other means of mass communication.
- done on a large scale or in large quantities: mass destruction.
- to come together in or form a mass or masses: The clouds are massing in the west.
- to gather into or dispose in a mass or masses; assemble: The houses are massed in blocks.
Origin of mass
Synonym study
Mass
Origin of Mass
Mass.
Related Words
throng, horde, group, crowd, number, lump, majority, pile, lot, mob, piece, size, load, pyramid, knot, chunk, clot, plurality, staple, bunchExamples from the Web for mass
Contemporary Examples
Their bodies were later found incinerated and buried in mass graves outside of town.
“The United States had gone to war declaring it must destroy an active weapons of mass destruction program,” the Times reported.
Google itself has taken a break and put plans for mass production on hold.
There were mass closures of churches, mosques, and monasteries, and new taxes on religious facilities.
The number of protests in China between 2006 and 2010 doubled to 180,000, and those are only the reported “mass incidents.”
Historical Examples
The mass was an ornate one, though not more so than they were accustomed to at Beaulieu.
The Armourer's PrenticesCharlotte M. Yonge
We missed our morning mass, it will do us no harm to hear Nones in the Minster.
The Armourer's PrenticesCharlotte M. Yonge
Gone is the mass of the mountains, the stoniness of rocks, the hard solidity of iron.
The Conquest of FearBasil King
In the nearer ranks we may discern the variety of ingredients that compose the mass.
Biographical SketchesNathaniel Hawthorne
I thought he was going to give that mass of flowers to me, but he did not.
Her Father's DaughterGene Stratton-Porter
mass
- a large coherent body of matter without a definite shape
- a collection of the component parts of something
- a large amount or number, such as a great body of people
- the main part or majoritythe mass of the people voted against the government's policy
- in the mass in the main; collectively
- the size of a body; bulk
- physics a physical quantity expressing the amount of matter in a body. It is a measure of a body's resistance to changes in velocity (inertial mass) and also of the force experienced in a gravitational field (gravitational mass): according to the theory of relativity, inertial and gravitational masses are equalSee also inertial mass, gravitational mass
- (in painting, drawing, etc) an area of unified colour, shade, or intensity, usually denoting a solid form or plane
- pharmacol a pastelike composition of drugs from which pills are made
- mining an irregular deposit of ore not occurring in veins
- done or occurring on a large scalemass hysteria; mass radiography
- consisting of a mass or large number, esp of peoplea mass meeting
- to form (people or things) or (of people or things) to join together into a massthe crowd massed outside the embassy
Word Origin
Mass
Word Origin
Mass.
- Massachusetts
Word Origin and History for mass
n.1
"lump, quantity, size," late 14c., from Old French masse "lump, heap, pile; crowd, large amount; ingot, bar" (11c.), and directly from Latin massa "kneaded dough, lump, that which adheres together like dough," probably from Greek maza "barley cake, lump, mass, ball," related to massein "to knead," from PIE root *mag- "to knead" (cf. Lithuanian minkyti "to knead," see macerate). Sense extended in English 1580s to "a large quantity, amount, or number." Strict sense in physics is from 1704.
As an adjective from 1733, first attested in mass meeting in American English. mass culture is from 1916 in sociology (earlier in biology); mass hysteria is from 1914; mass media is from 1923; mass movement is from 1897; mass production is from 1920; mass grave is from 1918; mass murder from 1880.
n.2
"Eucharistic service," Old English mæsse, from Vulgar Latin *messa "eucharistic service," literally "dismissal," from Late Latin missa "dismissal," fem. past participle of mittere "to let go, send" (see mission); probably so called from the concluding words of the service, Ite, missa est, "Go, (the prayer) has been sent," or "Go, it is the dismissal."
v.
"to gather in a mass" (intransitive), 1560s, from mass (n.1) or from French masser. Transitive sense by c.1600. Related: Massed; massing.
mass
(măs)- A unified body of matter with no specific shape.
- A grouping of individual parts or elements that compose a unified body of unspecified size or quantity.
- The physical volume or bulk of a solid body.
- The measure of the quantity of matter that a body or an object contains. The mass of the body is not dependent on gravity and therefore is different from but proportional to its weight.
- A thick, pasty pharmacological mixture containing drugs from which pills are formed.
- One of the seven fundamental SI units, the kilogram.
- massa
mass
- A measure of the amount of matter contained in or constituting a physical body. In classical mechanics, the mass of an object is related to the force required to accelerate it and hence is related to its inertia, and is essential to Newton's laws of motion. Objects that have mass interact with each other through the force of gravity. In Special Relativity, the observed mass of an object is dependent on its velocity with respect to the observer, with higher velocity entailing higher observed mass. Mass is measured in many different units; in most scientific applications, the SI unit of kilogram is used. See Note at weight. See also rest energy General Relativity.
Mass
The common name in the Roman Catholic Church, and among some members of the Anglican Communion, for the sacrament of Communion.
Note
Mass
In music, a musical setting for the texts used in the Christian Church at the celebration of the Mass, or sacrament of Communion. Most Masses have been written for use in the Roman Catholic Church.
Note
mass
In physics, the property of matter that measures its resistance to acceleration. Roughly, the mass of an object is a measure of the number of atoms in it. The basic unit of measurement for mass is the kilogram. (See Newton's laws of motion; compare weight.)