a body of coherent matter, usually of indefinite shape and often of considerable size.
a mass of dough.
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.
a collection of incoherent particles, parts, or objects regarded as forming one body.
a mass of sand.
aggregate; whole (usually preceded byin the ).
People, in the mass, mean well.
a considerable assemblage, number, or quantity: a mass of troops.
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. m
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.
affecting a number of people, but more than two and typically a large number: a mass shooting.
mass murder;
a mass shooting.
participated in or performed by a large number of people, especially together in a group: mass suicide.
mass demonstrations;
mass suicide.
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.
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.
the celebration of the Eucharist.
(sometimes lowercase) a musical setting of certain parts of this service, as the Kyrie eleison, Gloria, Credo, Sanctus, Benedictus, and Agnus Dei.
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 majority
the mass of the people voted against the government's policy
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 equal See 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 scale
mass hysteria
mass radiography
consisting of a mass or large number, esp of people
a mass meeting
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
See size 1.
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.
First recorded in 1350–1400; Middle English masse, from Latin massa “mass,” from Greek mâza “barley cake,” akin to mássein “to knead”
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”
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.
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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.
Complaints about anti-social behaviour following mass gatherings are nothing new.
From BBC ● Jul. 23, 2026
The drone war in Ukraine took shape in 2023 with the mass adoption of first-person-view drones.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jul. 22, 2026
U.S. presidents have long sought to prevent Middle Eastern countries from acquiring technologies that could be used to build weapons of mass destruction.
From Los Angeles Times ● Jul. 22, 2026
These differences remained even after the researchers accounted for physical activity, diabetes, body mass index, smoking, and alcohol use.
From Science Daily ● Jul. 21, 2026
The reality of the current mass extinction—and the sheer volume of animals close to or on the brink—is cause for great alarm.
From "Camp Panda" by Catherine Thimmesh
He is also a contributing editor at Town & Country and lives in Cambridge, Mass.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jul. 22, 2026
A Mass for the men was held at sea a few days later.
From Los Angeles Times ● Jul. 20, 2026
“If you’re not hearing back from these places and you’re getting rejection email after rejection email, it can definitely take a toll on you mentally,” said Kumar, 23, who lives in Shrewsbury, Mass.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jul. 15, 2026
Mass spectrometry allows scientists to measure the mass of molecules with exceptional precision.
From Science Daily ● Jul. 15, 2026
They sat in the front row as Father Pinckney began the Mass for the Dead.
From "The Great Santini" by Pat Conroy
He founded the Modern Lovers in 1970 in Natick, Mass., and recorded demos in 1971 and ’72.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jul. 22, 2026
Kathy L. McNair, author of “The Solo Senior’s Guide to Thrive” and an estate-planning attorney in Belmont, Mass., sees this happen frequently among retirees.
From MarketWatch ● Jul. 12, 2026
Yet tucked away in a closet of her Redding, Mass., home are 125 expired coupons for 20% off at a store that’s been closed for years.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jun. 22, 2026
Nathaniel Hawthorne set this brooding, allegorical work in mid-19th-century Salem, Mass., a town cursed by the crimes of the witch trials.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jun. 19, 2026
“I’ve heard of this book,” he whispered, “but I never thought…” He was talking like you would talk just before Mass. He opened the front page, looked at the sheet of music pasted in.
From "Okay for Now" by Gary D. Schmidt
After 20 minutes, they found a spot — and joined the masses.
From Los Angeles Times ● Jul. 21, 2026
Instead, it could be made up of particles with different masses.
From Science Daily ● Jul. 14, 2026
Whether it be sport, music, or religion, the Azteca is built for moments when masses of people come together to feel alive.
From BBC ● Jul. 5, 2026
The more the traditional studios get taken over and reimagined by the tech world, the fewer stories we’ll see greenlit and created for the masses.
From Slate ● Jul. 2, 2026
The Defender proclaimed it “the popular promenade for the masses and classes.”
From "A Few Red Drops: The Chicago Race Riot of 1919" by Claire Hartfield
Playing on the title, it opens with a big gospel organ and a massed chorus, before a handbrake turn into lip-smacking rap.
From BBC ● May 8, 2026
The frequently drawn parallel is to North Korea’s conventional artillery massed in range of greater Seoul’s 26 million people.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Apr. 10, 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
He has also massed 25,000 soldiers near Colombia, a likely vector for infiltration.
From Salon ● Nov. 3, 2025
“For half a mile along the splendid sweep of the Lake-Front men were massed a hundred deep,” the Tribune reported.
From "The Devil in the White City" by Erik Larson
Tankers are already massing outside the Strait to fill up.
From MarketWatch ● Jun. 18, 2026
Thousands of Chinese fishing boats have been massing in geometric formations in the East China Sea, in coordinated actions that experts believe are part of Beijing's preparations for a potential regional crisis or conflict.
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
And while Americans were still digesting these worrisome assessments, out of the Middle East came the first sketchy reports of Egyptian troops massing on the Israeli border.
From "The Best of Enemies" by Osha Gray Davidson
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.
