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:
Travelers are using AI more to find travel accommodations, get inspiration and plan trips, but the vast majority haven’t used it to actually close a booking transaction, Gorin says on CNBC.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Nov. 6, 2026
Allianz Stadium generates about 90% of the RFU's revenue, the vast majority of which comes via men's national team matchdays.
From BBC ● Nov. 6, 2026
Professor Martin Van Kranendonk, head of Curtin University's School of Earth and Planetary Sciences, said the results are changing how researchers understand the preservation of molecular structures over vast timescales and under harsh conditions.
From Science Daily ● Nov. 6, 2026
The sector had already been in the crosshairs of investors owing to questions about the vast sums pumped into new facilities, R&D and chip development, and when any companies would see a profit.
From Barron's ● Nov. 5, 2026
Far above, something—something vast, with massive wings—flew past the moon.
From "Impossible Creatures" by Katherine Rundell
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
This finding alone would have ensured Hubble’s reputation, but he now turned to the question of working out just how much vaster the universe was, and made an even more striking discovery.
From "A Short History of Nearly Everything" by Bill Bryson
“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
Baggage handling should be neither seen nor heard, though it’s the vastest operation of all.
From The New Yorker ● Feb. 1, 2016
Everyone’s strings are being pulled by someone, with, as Voltaire wrote, silence being “the verdict of the vastest mind.”
From New York Times ● Oct. 26, 2010
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
Now, the296 vastest of problems, that which contains all others, can be solved in one minute.
From Bouvard and Pécuchet A Tragi-comic Novel of Bourgeois Life by Gustave Flaubert
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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.
