Alternative forms

• geet (Geordie)
• gert (slang, Bristol, West Country)
• girt (UK, rural dialect)
• gurt (UK, West Country)

Etymology

From Middle EnglishCategory:English terms inherited from Middle English#GREATCategory:English terms derived from Middle English#GREAT greet, grete (“great, large”), from Old EnglishCategory:English terms inherited from Old English#GREATCategory:English terms derived from Old English#GREAT grēat (“big, massive; tall; thick; coarse”), from Proto-West GermanicCategory:English terms inherited from Proto-West Germanic#GREATCategory:English terms derived from Proto-West Germanic#GREAT *graut, from Proto-GermanicCategory:English terms inherited from Proto-Germanic#GREATCategory:English terms derived from Proto-Germanic#GREAT *grautaz (“coarse, crude; big, large”), from Proto-Indo-EuropeanCategory:English terms derived from Proto-Indo-European#GREAT *gʰrewd-, *gʰer- (“to rub; to stroke; to grind; to remove”).

The modern pronunciation shows an irregular change of Early Modern English /ɛː/ to /eɪ/ in the standard language; contrast this with the development of other words such as beat and heat.

Pronunciation

• enPR: grāt
  • (Received Pronunciation, General American) IPA^(key): /ˈɡɹeɪt/Category:English 1-syllable words#GREATCategory:English terms with IPA pronunciation#GREAT

  • Audio (General American):

    (file)

    Category:English terms with audio pronunciation#GREAT

  • Audio (US):

    (file)

    Category:English terms with audio pronunciation#GREAT
  • (General Australian, New Zealand) IPA^(key): /ˈɡɹæɪt/Category:English 1-syllable words#GREATCategory:English terms with IPA pronunciation#GREAT
  • (Canada) IPA^(key): [ˈɡɹeːt]Category:English terms with IPA pronunciation#GREAT
    • (Ottawa Valley) IPA^(key): [ˈɡɹeːt], [ˈɡɹɛːt]Category:English terms with IPA pronunciation#GREAT
  • Homophone: grateCategory:English terms with homophones#GREAT
  • Rhymes: -eɪtCategory:Rhymes:English/eɪt#GREATCategory:Rhymes:English/eɪt/1 syllable#GREAT
• enPR: grĕt (Southern US, archaic), IPA^(key): /ˈɡɹɛt/^[1]Category:English 1-syllable words#GREATCategory:English terms with IPA pronunciation#GREAT

(obsolete)

• (18^th century) enPR: grīt, IPA^(key): /ɡɹiːt/Category:English 1-syllable words#GREATCategory:English terms with IPA pronunciation#GREAT^[2]
• (Early Modern English; 16^th–17^th centuries) IPA^(key): /ɡɹɛːt/Category:English 1-syllable words#GREATCategory:English terms with IPA pronunciation#GREAT,^[3] /ɡɹɛt/^[3]

Adjective

great (comparative greater, superlative greatest)Category:English lemmas#GREATCategory:English adjectives#GREATCategory:English entries with incorrect language header#GREATCategory:Pages with entries#GREATCategory:Pages with 3 entries#GREAT

1. Taking much space; large.
   • 1921, Ben Travers, chapter 1, in A Cuckoo in the Nest, Garden City, N.Y.: Doubleday, Page & Company, published 1925, →OCLC:

     “ […] the awfully hearty sort of Christmas cards that people do send to other people that they don't know at all well. You know. The kind that have mottoes like // Here's rattling good luck and roaring good cheer, / With lashings of food and great hogsheads of beer. […]”

     Category:English terms with quotations#GREAT

   • 1963, Margery Allingham, chapter 7, in The China Governess: A Mystery, London: Chatto & Windus, →OCLC:

     ‘Children crawled over each other like little grey worms in the gutters,’ he said. ‘The only red things about them were their buttocks and they were raw. Their faces looked as if snails had slimed on them and their mothers were like great sick beasts whose byres had never been cleared. […]’

     Category:English terms with quotations#GREAT

   • 2013 July 19, Timothy Garton Ash, “Where Dr Pangloss meets Machiavelli”, in The Guardian Weekly, volume 189, number 6, page 18:

     Hidden behind thickets of acronyms and gorse bushes of detail, a new great game is under way across the globe. Some call it geoeconomics, but it's geopolitics too. The current power play consists of an extraordinary range of countries simultaneously sitting down to negotiate big free trade and investment agreements.

     Category:English terms with quotations#GREAT

   1. (of an abstract noun) Much, more than usual.

      great worryCategory:English terms with collocations#GREAT

      • 1910, Emerson Hough, chapter I, in The Purchase Price: Or The Cause of Compromise, Indianapolis, Ind.: The Bobbs-Merrill Company, →OCLC:

        “We are engaged in a great work, a treatise on our river fortifications, perhaps? But since when did army officers afford the luxury of amanuenses in this simple republic?”

        Category:English terms with quotations#GREAT

      • 1951 March, John W. Cline, “The Future of Medicine”, in Northwest Medicine, volume 50, number 3, Portland, Ore.: Northwest Medical Publishing Association, page 165:

        The first half of this century has been referred to as the golden age of medicine. To me it seems more probable that we are on the threshold of a much greater age.

        Category:English terms with quotations#GREAT

   2. (informalCategory:English informal terms#GREAT, BritishCategory:British English#GREAT) Intensifying a word or expression, used in mild oaths.

      a dirty great smack in the faceCategory:English terms with collocations#GREAT

      Great Scott!Category:English terms with collocations#GREAT

2. (informalCategory:English informal terms#GREAT) Very good; excellent; wonderful; fantastic. [from 1848]

   Dinner was great.Category:English terms with usage examples#GREAT

   • 1918, W[illiam] B[abington] Maxwell, chapter V, in The Mirror and the Lamp, Indianapolis, Ind.: The Bobbs-Merrill Company, →OCLC:

     He was thinking; but the glory of the song, the swell from the great organ, the clustered lights, […], the height and vastness of this noble fane, its antiquity and its strength—all these things seemed to have their part as causes of the thrilling emotion that accompanied his thoughts.

     Category:English terms with quotations#GREAT

3. Important, consequential.

   a great dilemmaCategory:English terms with collocations#GREAT

   a great decisionCategory:English terms with collocations#GREAT

   • 1611, The Holy Bible, […] (King James Version), London: […] Robert Barker, […], →OCLC, Daniel 2:48:

     So the King made Daniel a great man […]

     Category:English terms with quotations#GREAT

   • 1712 (date written), [Joseph] Addison, Cato, a Tragedy. […], London: […] J[acob] Tonson, […], published 1713, →OCLC, Act I, scene i, page 1:

     The Dawn is over-caſt, the Morning low’rs,
     And heavily in Clouds brings on the Day,
     The great, th’ important Day; big with the Fate
     Of Cato and of Rome.

     Category:English terms with quotations#GREAT

   • 2008, George McCandless, The ABCs of RBCs, Harvard University Press, page 2:

     The methods for finding parameters that are commonly used in RBC models include using coefficients that come from microeconomic studies for parameters like the time discount factor, rental income over total income for the parameters of a Cobb-Douglas production function, and adjusting parameters so that stationary state value values approach those of the great ratios such as consumption over income and capital over income.

     Category:English terms with quotations#GREAT

   • 2020 June 2, David S. Cohen, “Donald Trump Is Trying to Start a Race War”, in Rolling Stone‎, archived from the original on 3 June 2020:

     Racism courses through Donald Trump’s blood and is one of the foundational principles of his presidency. Which is why, when faced with one of the greatest uprisings against police brutality this nation has seen, a movement led by black people around the country and joined by all other people of color and white people as well, his only policy solution is to start a race war.

     Category:English terms with quotations#GREAT

   • 2025 September 30, John H. Cochrane, “Brunner lecture”, in The Grumpy Economist‎, archived from the original on 14 January 2026:

     I’ll cover fiscal theory and the recent inflation (again!) of course, but also more recent thoughts on the great puzzle of monetary economics, how central banks can lower inflation by raising nominal interest rates.

     Category:English terms with quotations#GREAT

4. (qualifying nouns of family relationship) Involving more generations than the qualified word implies — as many extra generations as repetitions of the word great (from 1510s). [see Derived terms]

   great-grandfather, great-great-grandfather, great-great-great-grandfatherCategory:English terms with collocations#GREAT

5. (obsoleteCategory:English terms with obsolete senses#GREAT, postpositive, followed by 'with') Pregnant; large with young; full of.

   great with childCategory:English terms with collocations#GREAT

   great with hopeCategory:English terms with collocations#GREAT

   • 1611, The Holy Bible, […] (King James Version), London: […] Robert Barker, […], →OCLC, Psalms 78:71:

     the ewes great with young

     Category:English terms with quotations#GREAT

6. (obsoleteCategory:English terms with obsolete senses#GREAT, except with 'friend' and similar words such as 'mate', 'buddy') Intimate; familiar.
   • 1625, Francis [Bacon], “Of Followers and Friends”, in The Essayes […], 3rd edition, London: […] Iohn Haviland for Hanna Barret, →OCLC:

     those that are so great with him

     Category:English terms with quotations#GREAT

7. (applied to actions, thoughts and feelings) Arising from or possessing idealism; admirable; commanding; illustrious; eminent.

   a great deedCategory:English terms with collocations#GREAT

   a great natureCategory:English terms with collocations#GREAT

   a great historyCategory:English terms with collocations#GREAT

8. Impressive or striking.

   a great show of wealthCategory:English terms with collocations#GREAT

9. Much in use; favoured.

   Poetry was a great convention of the Romantic era.Category:English terms with usage examples#GREAT

10. (applied to persons) Of much talent or achievements.

    a great hero, scholar, genius, philosopher, writer, etc.Category:English terms with collocations#GREAT

11. Doing or exemplifying (a characteristic or pursuit) on a large scale; active or enthusiastic.

    What a great buffoon!Category:English terms with usage examples#GREAT

    He’s not a great one for reading.Category:English terms with usage examples#GREAT

    a great walkerCategory:English terms with collocations#GREAT

Interjection

greatCategory:English lemmas#GREATCategory:English interjections#GREATCategory:English entries with incorrect language header#GREATCategory:Pages with entries#GREATCategory:Pages with 3 entries#GREAT

1. Expression of gladness and content about something.

   Great! Thanks for the wonderful work.Category:English terms with usage examples#GREAT

   • 2016, VOA Learning English (public domain)

     —I am in my new apartment! —Great!

2. A sarcastic inversion thereof.

   Oh, great! I just dumped all 500 sheets of the manuscript all over and now I have to put them back in order.Category:English terms with usage examples#GREAT

Noun

great (plural greats)Category:English lemmas#GREATCategory:English nouns#GREATCategory:English countable nouns#GREATCategory:English entries with incorrect language header#GREATCategory:Pages with entries#GREATCategory:Pages with 3 entries#GREAT

1. A person of major significance, accomplishment or acclaim.

   Newton and Einstein are two of the greats of the history of science.Category:English terms with usage examples#GREAT

   • 2019 May 1, Daniel Taylor, The Guardian‎:

     Sadio Mané wasted a glorious chance in the first half and, late on, Mohamed Salah turned his shot against a post after a goal-line clearance had spun his way. That, in a nutshell, perhaps sums up the difference between Messi and the players on the next rung below – the ones who can be described as great footballers without necessarily being football greats.

     Category:English terms with quotations#GREAT

3. (musicCategory:en:Music#GREAT) The main division in a pipe organ, usually the loudest division.
4. (in combinations such as "two-greats", "three-greats" etc.) An instance of the word "great" signifying an additional generation in phrases expressing family relationships.

   My three-greats grandmother.Category:English terms with usage examples#GREAT

Adverb

great (not comparable)Category:English lemmas#GREATCategory:English adverbs#GREATCategory:English uncomparable adverbs#GREATCategory:English entries with incorrect language header#GREATCategory:Pages with entries#GREATCategory:Pages with 3 entries#GREAT

1. (informalCategory:English informal terms#GREAT) Very well (in a very satisfactory manner).

   Those mechanical colored pencils work great because they don’t have to be sharpened.Category:English terms with usage examples#GREAT

References

Anagrams

• 'Gater, Gater, Greta, ergat-, grate, retag, targe, terga

Etymology

From Proto-West GermanicCategory:Old English terms inherited from Proto-West Germanic#GREATCategory:Old English terms derived from Proto-West Germanic#GREAT *graut, from Proto-GermanicCategory:Old English terms inherited from Proto-Germanic#GREATCategory:Old English terms derived from Proto-Germanic#GREAT *grautaz (“big in size, coarse, coarse grained”), from *gʰer- (“to rub, grind, remove”).

Cognate with Old Saxon grōt (“large, thick, coarse, stour”), Old High German grōz (“large, thick, coarse”), Old English grot (“particle”). More at groat.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ɡræ͜ɑːt/Category:Old English terms with IPA pronunciation#GREAT
• Rhymes: -æ͜ɑːtCategory:Rhymes:Old English/æ͜ɑːt#GREATCategory:Rhymes:Old English/æ͜ɑːt/1 syllable#GREAT

Adjective

grēat (comparative grīetra, superlative grīetest)Category:Old English lemmas#GREATCategory:Old English adjectives#GREATCategory:Old English entries with incorrect language header#GREATCategory:Pages with entries#GREATCategory:Pages with 3 entries#GREAT

1. great, massive
2. tall
3. thick; stout
4. coarse

Alternative forms

• greet, grete, greit
• graat (Shetland)

Etymology

From Middle EnglishCategory:Scots terms inherited from Middle English#GREATCategory:Scots terms derived from Middle English#GREAT grete, from Old EnglishCategory:Scots terms inherited from Old English#GREATCategory:Scots terms derived from Old English#GREAT grēat, from Proto-West GermanicCategory:Scots terms inherited from Proto-West Germanic#GREATCategory:Scots terms derived from Proto-West Germanic#GREAT *graut, from Proto-GermanicCategory:Scots terms inherited from Proto-Germanic#GREATCategory:Scots terms derived from Proto-Germanic#GREAT *grautaz.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): [ɡrɛt], [ɡrɪt]Category:Scots terms with IPA pronunciation#GREAT
• (North Northern Scots) IPA^(key): [ɡrit]Category:Scots terms with IPA pronunciation#GREAT
• (Shetland) IPA^(key): [ɡrɑːt]Category:Scots terms with IPA pronunciation#GREAT

Adjective

great (comparative greater, superlative greatest)Category:Scots lemmas#GREATCategory:Scots adjectives#GREATCategory:Scots entries with incorrect language header#GREATCategory:Pages with entries#GREATCategory:Pages with 3 entries#GREAT

1. great
2. coarse (in grain or texture)
3. thick, bulky, roomy (of things)
4. big, stout (of people)
5. swollen with rain, in flood (of a river)
6. high, stormy (of the sea)
7. intimate, friendly

References

• “great, adj., n.”, in The Dictionary of the Scots Language, Edinburgh: Scottish Language Dictionaries, 2004–present, →OCLC, reproduced from W[illiam] Grant and D[avid] D. Murison, editors, The Scottish National Dictionary, Edinburgh: Scottish National Dictionary Association, 1931–1976, →OCLC.