vast
Americanadjective
-
vaster,
comparative
-
vastest
superlative
-
of very great area or extent; immense.
the vast reaches of outer space.
- Synonyms:
- stupendous, colossal, gigantic, boundless, measureless
- Antonyms:
- small
-
of very great size or proportions; huge; enormous.
vast piles of rubble left in the wake of the war.
-
very great in number, quantity, amount, etc..
vast sums of money.
-
very great in degree, intensity, etc..
an artisan of vast skill.
noun
adjective
-
unusually large in size, extent, degree, or number; immense
-
(prenominal) (intensifier)
in vast haste
noun
-
poetic immense or boundless space
-
dialect a very great amount or number
Other Word Forms
Derived Forms
Inflected Forms
Adjectives
Etymology
Origin of vast
First recorded in 1565–75, from Latin vastus “empty, immense”
Explanation
If you’re in a boat out on the water and you can’t see any land, then the body of water you’re in is probably vast, or enormous. Things that are described as vast include oceans, seas, the heavens, deserts, and the surface of the moon. Even places that can't be seen or touched, like imaginations, are called vast, because of the endless ideas that come out of them. Someone with a vast imagination is very creative, and a place with a vast landscape is very large. Possibilities are vast, and so are the vocabularies of the world, filling vast volumes.
Vocabulary lists containing vast
Figurative Language in King's "I Have a Dream" Speech (1963)
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"The Ravine," Vocabulary from the short story
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Unit 1: Telling Details
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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:
Analysts have pointed out that the race to build out AI data centres, servers and chips has compounded that problem, with tech titans no longer able to rely on their vast piles of cash.
From Barron's ● Oct. 6, 2026
The vast majority of degree programs across the country meet this requirement, according to two new analyses.
From MarketWatch ● Oct. 5, 2026
Modern life turns out to be, among other things, a vast congregation of machines taking one another’s word for what time it is.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Oct. 4, 2026
Yemen is one of the poorest countries in the world and remains gripped by a vast humanitarian crisis.
From BBC ● Oct. 4, 2026
We find the row of inns that serve the vast numbers of Jews looking for shelter at the seaport before their departure.
From "Across So Many Seas" by Ruth Behar
Clearly the public can consume both slop and quality entertainment in ever vaster amounts while imposing cost pressures on those who make it.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Oct. 6, 2026
The lands whose governance was at stake are vaster than any nation, and it’s possible the consequences of the vote will be felt for eons.
From Salon ● Aug. 19, 2024
But scientists like Philip Riris have taken a broader approach, looking for enduring patterns of human behavior on a vaster scale of time and space.
From New York Times ● May 1, 2024
In a flash of light, the universe had become an infinitely vaster and more interesting place.
From Los Angeles Times ● Oct. 3, 2023
But then, this past September, Susan had transferred from the local school to the vaster, supposedly superior one in Garden City.
From "In Cold Blood" by Truman Capote
“Your handshake came over the vastest ocean in the world,” Zhou told Nixon as they rode to the guest quarters that Tuesday.
From Washington Post ● Feb. 20, 2022
But one of the vastest chasms might be cultural.
From New York Times ● Jan. 20, 2017
Baggage handling should be neither seen nor heard, though it’s the vastest operation of all.
From The New Yorker ● Feb. 1, 2016
Today, Ober owns several stores in a South Coast Plaza that is the vastest and most prosperous of all of Orange County’s many temples of shopping.
From Los Angeles Times ● Jun. 17, 1990
At the same time, our inquiry into Buddhism cannot be comprised within such narrow limits as sufficed for our examination of the indigenous religion of Japan; the subject being one of the vastest dimensions.
From Religion in Japan by George A. (George Augustus) Cobbold
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.
