much
Americanadjective
noun
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a great quantity, measure, or degree.
Much of his research was unreliable.
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a great, important, or notable thing or matter.
The house is not much to look at.
adverb
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to a great extent or degree; greatly; far.
to talk too much; much heavier.
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nearly, approximately, or about.
This is much like the others.
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Slang. (used after an adjective, noun, or verb to form a question that comments on someone’s intense feelings or extreme actions in a way that is critical, sarcastic, teasing, etc.): Geeking out much?
Jealous much?
Geeking out much?
idioms
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not so much, not.
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much as,
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almost the same as.
We need exercise, much as we need nourishment.
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however much.
Much as she wanted to stay at the party, she had to leave.
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too much,
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His band is too much, especially live in concert.
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overwhelming or intolerable.
His memories of the life they had together were just too much.
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She's too much—but so hilarious!
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make much of,
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to treat, represent, or consider as of great importance.
to make much of trivial matters.
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to treat with great consideration; show fondness for; flatter.
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determiner
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(usually used with a negative) a great quantity or degree of
there isn't much honey left
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( as pronoun )
much has been learned from this
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informal rather excessive
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exactly that
I suspected as much when I heard
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See make of
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not to any appreciable degree or extent
he's not much of an actor really
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informal of a low standard
this beer is not up to much
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(used with a negative) to have a high opinion of
I don't think much of his behaviour
adverb
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considerably
they're much better now
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practically; nearly (esp in the phrase much the same )
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(usually used with a negative) often; a great deal
it doesn't happen much in this country
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even though; although
much as I'd like to, I can't come
adjective
Etymology
Origin of much
First recorded in 1150–1200; Middle English muche, moche, shortened variant of muchel, mochel, Old English mycel; replacing Middle English miche(l), Old English micel “great, much” ( cf. mickle), cognate with Old Norse mikill, Gothic mikils, Greek mégal-, expanded stem of mégas “great”
Explanation
Use the adjective much to mean "a lot" or "a large amount." If you don't get much sleep the night before a big test, you don't get a lot. If you get too much sleep, you may sleep through your alarm and miss the test. Much is used as an adjective or adverb, but it always means a large quantity, extent, or degree. When something hurts very much, it's very painful, and when your friend says your gift is very much appreciated, she's emphasizing how happy it made her. The Middle English version of this word was muchel, "large," from the Old English micel, "great in amount or extent."
Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
See Examples For:
Chandler might not have known much about Lanterns, but he does understand the power of imagination.
From Los Angeles Times ● Aug. 17, 2026
Alphabet also didn’t detail why those obligations increased so much from the $332 billion it reported three months earlier.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 17, 2026
So, is this result a sign of things to come for both sides, or just a pre-season match that is unlikely to tell us much about the new campaign?
From BBC ● Aug. 16, 2026
In animated renditions streaming on HBO Max, the Green Lantern fares much better.
From Salon ● Aug. 16, 2026
They go on dates and realize how much they have in common.
From "At Last She Stood" by Erin Entrada Kelly
But they will drop during the rest of the week as a mostly northerly airflow starts to have more influence.
From BBC ● Aug. 17, 2026
Across the companies the Journal analyzed, promises of payments under these uncommenced leases totaled $1.2 trillion in off-balance–sheet obligations, or about four times more than what was disclosed a year earlier.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 17, 2026
Jordan and Stewart may not have many kind words to say about each other — especially in the 2016 era of the show — but Chandler and Pierre more than make up for it.
From Los Angeles Times ● Aug. 17, 2026
While rain is therefore finally going to fall across the south, it may become more showery.
From BBC ● Aug. 17, 2026
Joey has now been at Carville for more than four years—twice as long as she originally hoped—and her visa, which allows her to stay in the United States, has expired.
From "At Last She Stood" by Erin Entrada Kelly
That process has been most successful in neighborhoods that already have anchor assets to support demand.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 17, 2026
But the city’s concentrated investment strategy means that some neighborhoods most in need of attention have received very little.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 17, 2026
"The most important thing is that it's brought a completely different and younger demographic into the sport," says Glamorgan chair Mark Rhydderch-Roberts.
From BBC ● Aug. 16, 2026
The team of attorneys general can also show jurors select evidence to support those claims at opening statements on Tuesday, weeks before most of it enters the record through witness testimony, Gonzalez Rogers ruled.
From Los Angeles Times ● Aug. 16, 2026
Hugging the knight's knees, he said, "I embrace the knees of the most famous of all knights, Don Quixote de la Mancha, fighter of evil and savior of the unfortunate."
From "Adventures of Don Quixote" by Argentina Palacios
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.
