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:
He added: "The the short answer is that he's done great, we want him to be here long-term and we're working on it."
From BBC ● Sep. 11, 2026
A year later, after a stint with Thelonious Monk’s pioneering group, the saxophonist returned to Davis’s quintet and eventually played, with great credit, on Davis’s legendary 1959 album, “Kind of Blue.”
From The Wall Street Journal ● Sep. 11, 2026
“Given that the Midwest is not a particularly strong market, not great job prospects for many people, I think it’s just notable that there’s outmigration to there,” Phillips said.
From Los Angeles Times ● Sep. 11, 2026
"We explain how our sector works. There's a great deal of integrity in this profession. Otherwise, you don't last long."
From Barron's ● Sep. 11, 2026
The Duke said to Sancho, "Sancho, my friend, I, in the name of the great Don Quixote, appoint you governor of one of my islands."
From "Adventures of Don Quixote" by Argentina Palacios
He ends it as the attack leader, with statistics that stack up alongside some of the all-time greats of the game.
From BBC ● Sep. 9, 2026
She has indicated she will remain in the sport, but for now, there is time to savour an extraordinary career, with her place among boxing's greats set in stone.
From BBC ● Sep. 6, 2026
It takes over an hour for the whole procession to pass any one spot on the mountain, and they’re all but guaranteed to watch greats such as four-time champion Tadej Pogacar in full flow.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jul. 24, 2026
"That's why you have some of the greats in women's sports. If Title IX and women's sports weren't protected, then you wouldn't hear about any type of women in sport."
From Barron's ● Jul. 23, 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
“With a resurgence in fuel prices and trade tensions, consumers anticipate greater pressures on their pocketbooks to come,” Joanne Hsu, the director of the Surveys of Consumers, said.
From Salon ● Sep. 11, 2026
Vance “has sought to surface a greater level of detail and nuance about the war,” it says, and “developed a reputation inside the Trump administration for steeping himself in operational detail.”
From Slate ● Sep. 11, 2026
He noted that Dell has greater exposure to large-scale orders for AI servers, while HPE has strength from its broad networking and enterprise infrastructure offerings.
From MarketWatch ● Sep. 11, 2026
A colleague of his, whose job at Anthropic is to lead research about steering and controlling future AI systems, upped the ante, estimating the extinction risk over the next decade is greater than 10%.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Sep. 11, 2026
“It is the very reason I was created. But some have used me to do much greater than most.”
From "The Manifestor Prophecy" by Angie Thomas
But with a quarter-century of hindsight, asking the mayor to remove himself from a solemn commemoration of the greatest tragedy to ever occur in his city is unfathomable.
From Salon ● Sep. 11, 2026
In a tribute, Tracey's family said she was an "extraordinary woman", and a "devoted mother" whose children were her "greatest pride".
From BBC ● Sep. 11, 2026
“Hormuz is an immediate concern and the primary battlefield, but it is also the greatest point of leverage that Tehran has,” Gower said.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Sep. 10, 2026
"So we can assume that he assessed Ju Ae as having the greatest potential to become his successor," he added.
From Barron's ● Sep. 10, 2026
John Kennedy’s greatest fear was that he and Nikita Khrushchev were making the same mistakes as past leaders, bumbling down the same ruinous road.
From "Fallout: Spies, Superbombs, and the Ultimate Cold War Showdown" by Steve Sheinkin
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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