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• mass
  mass

  noun

  a body of coherent matter, usually of indefinite shape and often of considerable size.
• Mass
  Mass

  noun

  the celebration of the Eucharist.
• Mass.
  Mass.

  abbreviation

  Massachusetts.

mass

¹ American  

[mas] / mæs /

noun

• masses
  plural

1. a body of coherent matter, usually of indefinite shape and often of considerable size.

   a mass of dough.

2. Medicine/Medical, Pathology. an abnormal lump in the body, often in the form of a cyst or tumor.

   The mass they removed was alarmingly large, but the great news is that it was benign.

3. a collection of incoherent particles, parts, or objects regarded as forming one body.

   a mass of sand.

   Synonyms:

   congeries, heap, assemblage

4. aggregate; whole (usually preceded byin the ).

   People, in the mass, mean well.

5. a considerable assemblage, number, or quantity: a mass of troops.

   a mass of errors;

   a mass of troops.

   Synonyms:

   conglomeration, pile, accumulation, collection

6. bulk, size, expanse, or massiveness.

   towers of great mass and strength.

   Synonyms:

   dimension, magnitude

7. Fine Arts.

   1. Painting. an expanse of color or tone that defines form or shape in general outline rather than in detail.

   2. a shape or three-dimensional volume that has or gives the illusion of having weight, density, and bulk.

8. the main body, bulk, or greater part of anything.

   the great mass of American films.

   Synonyms:

   majority

9. Physics. the quantity of matter as determined from its weight or from Newton's second law of motion. m

10. Pharmacology. a preparation of thick, pasty consistency, from which pills are made.

11. the masses, the ordinary or common people as a whole; the working classes or the lower social classes.

    Synonyms:

    plebeians, proletariat

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adjective

1. 1. pertaining to, involving, or affecting a large number of people.

      mass unemployment;

      mass migrations.

   2. affecting a number of people, but more than two and typically a large number: a mass shooting.

      mass murder;

      a mass shooting.

2. participated in or performed by a large number of people, especially together in a group: mass suicide.

   mass demonstrations;

   mass suicide.

3. pertaining to, involving, or characteristic of the mass of the people: a movie designed to appeal to a mass audience.

   the mass mind;

   a movie designed to appeal to a mass audience.

4. reaching or designed to reach a large number of people.

   television, newspapers, and other means of mass communication.

5. done on a large scale or in large quantities.

   mass destruction.

verb (used without object)

• masses,
  present (3rd person singular)
• massed,
  past participle,  past
• massing
  present participle

1. to come together in or form a mass or masses.

   The clouds are massing in the west.

verb (used with object)

• masses,
  present (3rd person singular)
• massed,
  past participle,  past
• massing
  present participle

1. to gather into or dispose in a mass or masses; assemble.

   The houses are massed in blocks.

   Synonyms:

   aggregate, amass, marshal, collect

   Antonyms:

   disperse

Mass ² American  

[mas] / mæs /

noun

1. the celebration of the Eucharist.

2. (sometimes lowercase) a musical setting of certain parts of this service, as the Kyrie eleison, Gloria, Credo, Sanctus, Benedictus, and Agnus Dei.

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Mass. ³ American  

abbreviation

1. Massachusetts.

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mass ¹ British  

/ ˈmæstlɪ, mæs, ˈmæsɪdlɪ /

noun

1. a large coherent body of matter without a definite shape

2. a collection of the component parts of something

3. a large amount or number, such as a great body of people

4. the main part or majority

   the mass of the people voted against the government's policy

5. in the main; collectively

6. the size of a body; bulk

7. 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 equal See also inertial mass gravitational mass

8. (in painting, drawing, etc) an area of unified colour, shade, or intensity, usually denoting a solid form or plane

9. pharmacol a pastelike composition of drugs from which pills are made

10. mining an irregular deposit of ore not occurring in veins

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1. done or occurring on a large scale

   mass hysteria

   mass radiography

2. consisting of a mass or large number, esp of people

   a mass meeting

verb

1. to form (people or things) or (of people or things) to join together into a mass

   the crowd massed outside the embassy

Mass. ² British  

abbreviation

1. Massachusetts

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Mass ³ British  

/ mæs, mɑːs /

noun

1. (in the Roman Catholic Church and certain Protestant Churches) the celebration of the Eucharist See also High Mass Low Mass

2. a musical setting of those parts of the Eucharistic service sung by choir or congregation

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mass Scientific  

/ măs /

1. 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.

2. See Note at weight See also rest energy General Relativity

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Mass ¹ Cultural  

1. 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.

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Mass ² Cultural  

1. The common name in the Roman Catholic Church, and among some members of the Anglican Communion, for the sacrament of Communion.

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mass ³ Cultural  

1. 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.)

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Synonym Usage

See size ¹.

Discover More

Many composers have written Masses; among them are Johann Sebastian Bach, Franz Josef Haydn, Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, Franz Schubert, Leonard Bernstein, and Duke Ellington.

In the Middle Ages in England, mass meant a religious feast day in honor of a specific person; thus, “Christ's Mass,” or Christmas, is the feast day of Christ; and Michaelmas is the feast day of the angel Michael.

Other Word Forms

Derived Forms

• massed
  adjective
• unmassed
  adjective
• massedly
  adverb

Inflected Forms

Nouns

• masses
  plural

Participles

• massing
  present
• massed
  past

Conjugated Forms

Present

• mass
  simple
• masses
  simple
• have massed
  perfect
• has massed
  perfect
• am massing
  progressive
• are massing
  progressive
• is massing
  progressive
• have been massing
  perfect progressive
• has been massing
  perfect progressive

Past

• massed
  simple
• had massed
  perfect
• was massing
  progressive
• were massing
  progressive
• had been massing
  perfect progressive

Future

• will mass
  simple
• will have massed
  perfect
• will be massing
  progressive
• will have been massing
  perfect progressive

Etymology

Origin of mass¹

First recorded in 1350–1400; Middle English masse, from Latin massa “mass,” from Greek mâza “barley cake,” akin to mássein “to knead”

Origin of Mass²

First recorded before 900; Middle English masse, Old English mæsse, from Vulgar Latin messa (unrecorded), from Late Latin missa, feminine of Latin missus “sent,” past participle of mittere “to send, dismiss”; perhaps extracted from a phrase in the service containing a feminine subject and missa est “(it) is sent”

Explanation

Anything that has weight and shape has mass. In fact, mass is the quality that gives things weight anywhere there's gravity. If you think about mass being about weight and shape, you can see how many of its meanings are related. If something is very big we say it has great mass — or is massive. If we talk about a large group of people, we talk about a mass demonstration or a mass of demonstrators. We refer to poor or common people as the masses — there are a lot of them. Doctors refer to tumors inside our bodies as masses.

Example Sentences

See Examples For:

mass Mass Mass. masses massed massing

It added that Washington needs to immediately put mass production of precision missiles on a wartime footing because “waiting until conflict begins will be too late.”

From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 21, 2026

Dozens of Great Britain athletes had been taking a new product that increased muscle mass and improved athletic performance – a "wonder pill" that didn't fall foul of any doping rules.

From BBC ● Aug. 20, 2026

Xu was born into a poor family in rural Henan province in 1958, the year leader Mao Zedong launched his "Great Leap Forward" -- an industrialisation plan that led to mass starvation.

From Barron's ● Aug. 20, 2026

Because the microdrones have so little mass, those extremely small forces can generate substantial acceleration and speed.

From Science Daily ● Aug. 18, 2026

By then, the melting fuel rods had probably already begun to pool at the bottom of the reactor in a molten mass called corium.

From "Meltdown" by Deirdre Langeland

Mass layoffs are coming to another San Diego-based food company.

From Los Angeles Times ● Aug. 21, 2026

Researchers from the University of Liverpool's Mass Spectrometry Research Group conducted protein sequencing and mass spectrometry tests.

From Science Daily ● Aug. 14, 2026

The sisters both said they would typically be praying quietly in their rooms early on a Sunday, ahead of attending Mass.

From Salon ● Aug. 12, 2026

It’s about 20 miles north of downtown Boston, and offers a small-town feel while being close to major employers, such as the Mass General Brigham Healthcare Center.

From MarketWatch ● Aug. 10, 2026

The only way Aunt Consuelo celebrated was to go to a late Mass with the oldest children, Señor Fidencio, and his wife.

From "Lupita Mañana" by Patricia Beatty

The cases were “too isolated and episodic” to prove a persistent civil rights violation at the Ivy League campus in Cambridge, Mass., the judge said.

From Los Angeles Times ● Aug. 13, 2026

The 39-year-old from Quincy, Mass., has been taking Pulmozyme off-label since October 2024 to help manage what she describes as “probably a very rare type of immunodeficiency.”

From MarketWatch ● Aug. 13, 2026

At the Cape Ann Museum, the overlooked connection between the three artists, forged during their shared summers in Gloucester, Mass., is brought to light.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 3, 2026

Borders don’t dissolve because a stadium sang together, and no treaty was signed in Foxborough, Mass., that night.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Jul. 24, 2026

I surprise even myself, that I would dare to dispute with a priest during the Mass. Five months of convent life have, in their way, furthered my education, if not my humility.

From "Ophelia" by Lisa Klein

Or how to make boat restoration interesting to the masses.

From Los Angeles Times ● Aug. 20, 2026

Most stars in the Universe have lower masses, including the star that created NGC 2392.

From Science Daily ● Aug. 12, 2026

The Kazakh meteorological service said the impact of the project is "local and short-lived," and that it "does not affect climate processes or alter the movement of air masses".

From Barron's ● Aug. 12, 2026

The area was really busy and popular with tourists who stay in the masses of Airbnbs.

From BBC ● Aug. 7, 2026

“I have deduced that there is a relationship between these two masses that must be within certain parameters.”

From "October Sky" by Homer Hickam

The overall sound is highly dramatic, with massed voices, quaking beats, horses whinnying in the distance, and percussion that evokes the threat of a rattlesnake.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 4, 2026

Tens of thousands of allied troops were massed on Iraq and Kuwait's borders for the ground war, which was still nine days away.

From BBC ● Mar. 11, 2026

About 8,000 miles from the Middle East, where U.S. forces massed over the past month to prepare for war, Heather Griffith has been jotting a string of rising numbers into a notebook.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Mar. 7, 2026

A Yemeni military official told AFP that some 15,000 Saudi-backed Yemeni troops were massed in a border area but had not yet received orders to tackle the separatists.

From Barron's ● Dec. 27, 2025

They massed in great murmurations—swelling and contracting and swelling again.

From "The Girl Who Drank the Moon" by Kelly Barnhill

Tankers are already massing outside the Strait to fill up.

From MarketWatch ● Jun. 18, 2026

Many of the fishing boats involved in the December and January massing events were likely part of China's maritime militia, some experts said.

From Barron's ● Mar. 13, 2026

He adapted their simple massing and abstract play of volumes, graced them with a few flourishes of Colonial detail, and served them up to young clients on Long Island and in coastal Massachusetts.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Nov. 28, 2025

Then comes the mosquito-like whine of the incoming Russian drones, massing in their hundreds just above the clouds.

From BBC ● Nov. 16, 2025

There was smoke, clatter, mud, and confusion, as if an army were massing for an assault on Chicago.

From "The Devil in the White City" by Erik Larson

Related Words

• crowd
• group
• horde
• lot
• lump
• majority
• mob
• number
• piece
• pile
• throng