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:
One cybersecurity expert expressed concern that such a vast breach could have occurred based on one compromised username and password.
From Los Angeles Times ● Oct. 17, 2026
In a healthy state they absorb vast quantities of planet-warming carbon dioxide, helping to keep the Earth cool.
From BBC ● Oct. 17, 2026
You have a vast filmography featuring subjects who might have taken issue, or have taken issue, with what was said in your documentaries.
From Salon ● Oct. 16, 2026
In an interview with AFP last month, Banga said the private capital should be seen as augmenting, not replacing, development financing and that it is needed to address the developing world's vast financial needs.
From Barron's ● Oct. 16, 2026
But other Hararis had not been born and raised in a city as vast as this.
From "Night Owls" by A.R. Vishny
“The Jewish diaspora in Israel is vaster and more diverse than people think,” Barhany said.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Oct. 7, 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
And while disposing treated water in the ocean is common practice for nuclear plants, critics have pointed out that the amount being released from Fukushima is on an unprecedented, far vaster scale.
From BBC ● Aug. 24, 2023
There’s this interest in the deep time, and in some ways, it’s both an acknowledgement of our individual insignificance but also our lineage that is much longer and vaster than is usually acknowledged.
From Los Angeles Times ● Nov. 28, 2022
In other habitats, the rim of sky above the horizontal is broken or obscured; here, together with the overhead portion, it is infinitely vaster than that of rolling countryside and forest lands.
From "Into the Wild" by Jon Krakauer
“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
I'm simply an inconsiderable unit in the population of the vastest city in the world; or, rather, not a unit—a cipher.
From The Brass Bottle by F. Anstey
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Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
