great
Usage
What are other ways to say great?
In reference to the size and extent of concrete objects, great is highly formal and even poetic, suggesting also that the object is notable or imposing, large is only somewhat formal, and big is the most general and most colloquial word: a great oak; a large tree; a big tree; great plains; a large field; a big field. When the reference is to degree or a quality, great is the usual word: great beauty; great mistake; great surprise; although big sometimes alternates with it in colloquial style: a big mistake; a big surprise; large is usually not used in reference to degree, but may be used in a quantitative reference: a large number (great number).
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:
"The great thing about him, he held no grudges. That was a fantastic quality he had and we had a great night," said Ferguson.
From BBC ● Jul. 21, 2026
Its great colonial naval base in Asia would be in Singapore, allowing control of Malacca, through which the largest share of global maritime traffic from China now passes.
From Barron's ● Jul. 21, 2026
And my first floor kitchen, which gets great morning light.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jul. 21, 2026
“We’d play Capture the Flag, running through the tunnel; there are a lot of great hiding spaces in the house,” said Julianne Lauenstein.
From Los Angeles Times ● Jul. 21, 2026
Prisoners on kitchen detail lugged in great buckets of gruel made of wheat and peas, tasteless but nourishing.
From "The Hiding Place" by Corrie ten Boom
After moving to Los Angeles, he became a favorite live and session player for many midcentury greats, including Frank Sinatra, Nat King Cole and Marvin Gaye.
From Los Angeles Times ● Jul. 21, 2026
Yet the lasting images from both tournaments are of all-time greats such as Kylian Mbappé and Lionel Messi dancing on the field.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jul. 18, 2026
That allowed him to coach at a World Cup and European Championship, while also working with global greats including Cristiano Ronaldo and Kevin de Bruyne.
From BBC ● Jul. 14, 2026
The game also saw one of football's modern greats put away a penalty.
From BBC ● Jul. 6, 2026
For those looking for a good time, the State Street “Stroll,” between Twenty-Sixth and Thirty-Ninth Streets, offered a lively place to listen to the jazz greats and exchange the latest gossip.
From "A Few Red Drops: The Chicago Race Riot of 1919" by Claire Hartfield
Although the study examined a laboratory-adapted strain of influenza, the researchers believe the same strategy could eventually be used to investigate viruses with greater pandemic potential.
From Science Daily ● Jul. 21, 2026
Mistral told AFP that the tie-up "gives us greater visibility to speed up the financing and development of Mistral Compute", its cloud and AI infrastructure business.
From Barron's ● Jul. 21, 2026
They point to increased premiumization, lower density craft, greater fleet flexibility, and improved network economics.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jul. 21, 2026
Since her death, Simone's family and her best friend Bethany have been pushing for greater awareness of the dangers of methanol through their MethaKnow campaign.
From BBC ● Jul. 21, 2026
To not help him, they believed, would be a greater moral offense and act of ingratitude than even his verbal attacks of hostility and hatred.
From "Endgame" by Frank Brady
The UK experienced several historic solar storms in 2024 as Cycle 25 approached its "solar maximum," the period of greatest activity.
From Science Daily ● Jul. 21, 2026
A decade ago, California was “the greatest place to do business,” Rosenfield said.
From Los Angeles Times ● Jul. 21, 2026
Finch was one of hard rock’s greatest connectors.
From Salon ● Jul. 21, 2026
The plan is to build the underlying infrastructure followed by “providing the greatest possible software solution for making it usable, easy, accessible and efficient,” he said.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jul. 21, 2026
The robot’s greatest fear was deep water, and now she was paddling through the waves and out to sea.
From "The Wild Robot Escapes" by Peter Brown
Vocabulary lists containing great
Spelling Practice, Unit 8
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Spelling Practice, Unit 8
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Spelling Practice 1, Unit 5
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