tall
- having a relatively great height; of more than average stature: a tall woman; tall grass.
- having stature or height as specified: a man six feet tall.
- large in amount or degree; considerable: a tall price; Swinging that deal is a tall order.
- extravagant; difficult to believe: a tall tale.
- high-flown; grandiloquent: He engages in so much tall talk, one never really knows what he's saying.
- having more than usual length; long and relatively narrow: He carried a tall walking stick.
- Archaic. valiant.
- Obsolete.
- seemly; proper.
- fine; handsome.
- in a proud, confident, or erect manner: to stand tall; to walk tall.
Origin of tall
Synonyms
See more synonyms for tall on Thesaurus.comAntonyms
Examples from the Web for taller
Contemporary Examples
“They were longer-limbed, they rotated their torsos much faster, and sometimes they were taller,” he says.
History shows that in 80 percent of presidential elections, the candidate who is taller wins.
It turns out Romney is taller than Obama, which, according to this theory, gives the former governor a leg up in November.
John Kelsey is 47, taller and slighter and shier, with cropped hair and a tendency to withdraw under his baseball cap.
Bernadette Corporation: Mutating Art Collective Succeeds in the Avant GardeBlake Gopnik
September 7, 2012
They are wider than a pickup truck, taller than a man, and strong enough to deflect the explosion of a car bomb.
Historical Examples
The men are taller than the average, and the women, relatively, taller than the men.
Miss Merton is the taller, but there is something fierce in her eyes.
Alice, or The Mysteries, CompleteEdward Bulwer-Lytton
I wish you'd light up, evenin's, an' not set here by one taller candle!
Meadow GrassAlice Brown
Evidently Dick is the taller, for Mr. Don has to look up to him.
Echoes of the WarJ. M. Barrie
She was a lithe, strong woman, taller than he, or else she would have fallen.
Roden's CornerHenry Seton Merriman
tall
- of more than average height
- (postpositive)having a specified heighta woman five feet tall
- (in combination)a twenty-foot-tall partition
- informal exaggerated or incrediblea tall story
- informal difficult to accomplisha tall order
- an archaic word for excellent
Word Origin
Word Origin and History for taller
tall
adj.
"high in stature," 1520s, probably ultimately from Old English getæl "prompt, active." Sense evolved to "brave, valiant, seemly, proper" (late 14c.), then to "attractive, handsome" (mid-15c.), and finally "being of more than average height." The Old English word is related to Old High German gi-zal "quick," Gothic un-tals "indocile."
Sense evolution is remarkable, but adjectives applied to persons often mutate quickly in meaning (e.g. pretty, buxom, German klein "small, little," which in Middle High German meant the same as its English cognate clean). Meaning "exaggerated" (as in tall tale) is American English colloquial attested by 1846. Phrase tall, dark, and handsome is recorded from 1906.
Idioms and Phrases with taller
tall
In addition to the idioms beginning with tall
- tall order
- tall tale
also see:
- walk tall