greatadjective
uk/ɡreɪt/us/ɡreɪt/great adjective (BIG)
A2 large in amount, size, or degree:
an enormous great hole
The issue is of great importance to voters.
The improvement in water standards over the last 50 years has been very great.
A great many people would agree.
The great majority of (= almost all) people would agree.
formal It gives us great pleasure to announce the engagement of our daughter Maria.
formal It is with great sorrow that I inform you of the death of our director.
I have great sympathy for you.
I spent a great deal of time there.
[ before noun ] used in names, especially to mean large or important:
a Great Dane (= large type of dog)
Catherine the Great
the Great Wall of China
the Great Bear (= group of stars)
greater than specialized
larger in number or amount than:
X must be equal to or greater than 10.
More examples
- A great number of women used to die in childbirth.
- For a goalkeeper, it's a great advantage to have big hands.
- He's a great comfort to his mother.
- She has finally got the job she wanted, but at great personal cost .
- The pay differential between workers and management is too great.
Thesaurus: synonyms and related words
Big and quite big
- appreciable
- baronial
- burly
- capacious
- commodious
- fair
- grand
- heavy
- juicy
- L, l
- large-scale
- largish
- macro
- mass
- spacious
- supersize
- swamp
- sweeping
- the bigger the better idiom
- walk-in
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great adjective (FAMOUS)
B2 approving famous, powerful, or important as one of a particular type:
a great politician/leader/artist/man/woman
This is one of Rembrandt's greatest paintings.
Who do you think is the greatest modern novelist?
More examples
- The cinematic effects in her films are clearly borrowed from the great film-makers of the past.
- Rome, Carthage and Athens were some of the great city-states of the ancient world.
- Gathered all together in this church, we commemorate those who lost their lives in the great war.
- As a child, he aspired to be a great writer.
- Despite her limitations as an actress, she was a great entertainer.
Thesaurus: synonyms and related words
Very important or urgent
- all-important
- arch
- at all cost(s) idiom
- be a matter of life and/or death idiom
- burning
- chief
- considerable
- critical
- major league
- make the world go around/round idiom
- materially
- minor league
- mission-critical
- prized
- prominent
- radical
- sacred
- salient
- seriously
- substantial
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great adjective (EXTREME)
B1 extreme:
great success/difficulty
More examples
- We're living in a time of great change.
- The numerous awards on the walls bear witness to his great success.
- It takes great skill to weave a basket from/out of rushes.
- To my great surprise, they agreed to all our demands.
- The George Cross is a decoration that is bestowed on British civilians for acts of great bravery.
Thesaurus: synonyms and related words
Linguistics: very & extreme
- abject
- awful
- badly
- beyond
- classic
- classical
- devastating
- drop dead! idiom
- eminently
- esp
- especially
- heartily
- impossibly
- rather
- sheer
- specially
- supremely
- thoroughly
- whole
- wide
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great adjective (GOOD)
A1 informal very good:
a great idea
We had a great time last night at the party.
It's great to see you after all this time!
"I'll lend you the car if you like." "Great! Thanks a lot!"
"What's your new teacher like?" "Oh, he's great."
"How are you feeling now?" "Great."
informal used to mean that something is very bad:
Oh great ! That's all I need - more bills!
More examples
- Everyone says it's a great movie, but I think it's overrated.
- My new hiking boots will be great once I've broken them in.
- Ireland boasts beautiful beaches, great restaurants and friendly locals.
- I think the party was great.
- There's a great film on TV at midnight.
Thesaurus: synonyms and related words
Extremely good
- admirable
- amazing
- ask for sb/sth
- award-winning
- awesome
- bowl
- brilliant
- incomparable
- incredible
- inspired
- irreplaceable
- life is just a bowl of cherries idiom
- outstanding
- parallel
- sterling
- superb
- superlatively
- supremacy
- supreme
- terrific
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You can also find related words, phrases, and synonyms in the topics:
Informal words for bad
greatness
noun [ U ] uk/ˈɡreɪt.nəs/us/ˈɡreɪt.nəs/
B2 skill and importance:
Her greatness as a writer is unquestioned.
Idiom(s)
be a great one for sth
go great guns
great minds think alike
no great shakes
greatadverb [ before noun ], adjective
uk/ɡreɪt/us/ɡreɪt/informalB2 used to emphasize the meaning of another word:
a great big spider
a great long queue
You great idiot!
Pat's a great friend of mine.
More examples
- They left a great enormous pile of washing-up in the sink.
- Take your great fat hands off my private things, you!
- Who parked that horrible great lorry right outside my window?
- She had a whopping great bruise on her arm.
- He just stood there with a silly great grin on his face.
Thesaurus: synonyms and related words
Linguistics: very & extreme
- abject
- awful
- badly
- beyond
- classic
- classical
- devastating
- drop dead! idiom
- eminently
- esp
- especially
- heartily
- impossibly
- rather
- sheer
- specially
- supremely
- thoroughly
- whole
- wide
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greatnoun [ C ]
uk/ɡreɪt/us/ɡreɪt/a famous person in a particular area of activity:
former tennis great Arthur Ashe
Woody Allen, one of the all-time greats of the cinema
Thesaurus: synonyms and related words
Famous people
- Archimedes
- Aristotle
- big name
- Caesar
- celebrity
- centre
- icon
- immortal
- Julius Caesar
- luminary
- megastar
- movie star
- name
- personality
- public figure
- rising star
- Socrates
- star
- superstar
- VIP
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Idiom(s)
the great and the good