Comparative form of the word great

Adjectives describe people, places, and things. When you want to go beyond description, you need to increase the degree of your adjective. Comparative and superlative adjectives are used to show how much the adjectives apply to the nouns they modify in rank order. Comparative adjectives are used to compare two nouns while superlative adjectives express which noun has the most of its attributes.

Comparative Adjectives

When you have two objects that can be described by the same adjective but exhibit the qualities to different degrees, you need a comparative adjective. This helps you show the difference between the two objects more clearly. For example, you can have two dogs that are fast. One, however, is likely to reach the other side of the backyard first in a race. Using the comparative adjective faster helps you distinguish between the speed of the two animals.

The way the comparative is formed depends on the structure of the adjective itself. If it is a one-syllable word and ends in a consonant, you will likely add -er to the end of the word to make it comparative. Sometimes, you will need to double the ending consonant. Words such as big or flat require a double consonant so that the change in degree doesn’t change the sound of the vowel in the middle of the word. If it has one syllable and ends in an e, you can just add -r to the end rather than double the vowel.

When an adjective has more than one syllable, you usually use the word more in front of it to make it comparative rather than tacking on an ending. The painting you like better, therefore, can be termed more beautiful. Common exceptions are words that end in y. In that case, the y usually becomes an i and gets an -er ending. Fancy, for example, becomes fancier when an event with more pomp and circumstance comes along.

Superlative Adjectives

When you want to set a noun apart from everything else to which that noun could refer, you need to use a superlative adjective. The superlative communicates that the object is at an extreme end of the quality the adjective describes. Smallest describes how tiny an object is in comparison to all the others, while biggest denotes that it outsizes them all.

Forming the superlative is similar to forming the comparative. Add -est or -st to most one-syllable words to make them superlative. Instead of using more before longer words, use most. Don’t forget to turn the y on the end of a word to an i before adding the ending.

Exceptions

As with many words in the English language, there are always exceptions to the rule. If you look at the word fun, for example, you might think the best comparative is funner or the superlative funnest. Native speakers tend to use more fun or most fun, though. Some words don’t follow either pattern. Good becomes better and best. When using comparisons, it’s important to know which words follow the rules and which ones don’t.

If you have two or more objects to compare, the base adjective will probably not be sufficient on its own. Using comparative and superlative adjectives tell you the degree to which the quality described applies to the object.

English[edit]

Etymology[edit]

From Middle English greet (“great, large”), from Old English grēat (“big, thick, coarse, massive”), from Proto-West Germanic *graut, from Proto-Germanic *grautaz (“big in size, coarse, coarse grained”), from Proto-Indo-European *gʰrewd-, *gʰer- (“to rub, grind, remove”).

Cognate with Scots great (“coarse in grain or texture, thick, great”), West Frisian grut (“large, great”), Dutch groot (“large, stour”), German groß (“large”), Old English grēot (“earth, sand, grit”). Related to grit.

Pronunciation[edit]

• enPR: grāt, IPA^(key): /ˈɡɹeɪt/
• (General Australian) IPA^(key): /ˈɡɹæɪt/
• (obsolete (1700s)) enPR: grīt, IPA^(key): /ɡɹiːt/^[1]
• (Early Modern English (1500s, 1600s)) IPA^(key): /ɡɹɛːt/,^[2] /ɡɹet/^[2]
• Rhymes: -eɪt
• Homophone: grate

Adjective[edit]

great (comparative greater, superlative greatest)

1. (augmentative) Large, senior (high-ranking), intense, extreme, or exceptional
   1. Relatively large in scale, size, extent, number (i.e. having many parts or members) or duration (i.e. relatively long); very big.

      A great storm is approaching our shores.

      a great assembly

      a great wait

      • 1922, Ben Travers, chapter 1, in A Cuckoo in the Nest‎^[2]:

        “[…] 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. […]”

      • 1963, Margery Allingham, chapter 7, in The China Governess‎^[3]:

        ‘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. […]’

      • 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.

   2. Title referring to an important leader.

      Alexander the Great

   3. Of larger size or more importance than others of its kind.

      the great auk

      • c. 1597 (date written), William Shakespeare, “The Merry Wiues of Windsor”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, [Act III, scene iv]:

        He doth object I am too great of birth.

   4. (informal) Very good; excellent; wonderful; fantastic. [from 1848]

      Dinner was 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.

   5. (informal, Britain) Intensifying a word or expression, used in mild oaths.

      a dirty great smack in the face

      Great Scott!

2. (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-grandfather

3. (obsolete, postpositive, followed by ‘with’) Pregnant; large with young; full of.

   great with child

   great with hope
4. (obsolete, except with ‘friend’ and similar words such as ‘mate’,’buddy’) Intimate; familiar.
5. Extreme or more than usual.

   great worry

6. Of significant importance or consequence; important.

   a great decision

   • 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?”

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

   a great deed

   a great nature

   a great history

8. Impressive or striking.

   a great show of wealth

9. Much in use; favoured.

   Poetry was a great convention of the Romantic era.

10. (applied to persons) Endowed with extraordinary powers; of exceptional talents or achievements; uncommonly gifted; able to accomplish vast results; remarkable; strong; powerful; mighty; noble.

    a great hero, scholar, genius, philosopher, writer etc.

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

    What a great buffoon!

    He’s not a great one for reading.

    a great walker

12. (often followed by ‘at’) Skilful or adroit.

    a great carpenter

    You are great at singing.

Usage notes[edit]

Moderating adverbs such as fairly, somewhat, etc. tend not to be used with great. Some intensifiers can be used with some senses of great; for example, a very great amount, a very great man, the party was really great, though not *the party was very great.

Synonyms[edit]

• (augmentative): grand, super-, supra-, hyper-, ultra-, uber-, macro-, arch-, over-, mega-, giga-, -zilla
• See also Thesaurus:large
• See also Thesaurus:excellent
• gr8, grt (Internet slang, text messaging)

Antonyms[edit]

• (very big, large scale): tiny
• (uncommonly gifted): mediocre, ordinary

Derived terms[edit]

Descendants[edit]

• → Welsh: grêt

Translations[edit]

Interjection[edit]

great

1. Expression of gladness and content about something.

   Great! Thanks for the wonderful work.

   • 2016, VOA Learning English (public domain)

     I am in my new apartment! Great!

2. 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.

Translations[edit]

Noun[edit]

great (plural greats)

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

   Newton and Einstein are two of the greats of the history of science.

   • 2019, Daniel Taylor, Lionel Messi magic puts Barcelona in command of semi-final with Liverpool (in The Guardian, 1 May 2019)[4]

     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.

2. (music) The main division in a pipe organ, usually the loudest division.
3. (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.

Antonyms[edit]

• (person of major significance, accomplishment or acclaim): mediocre

Translations[edit]

Adverb[edit]

great (not comparable)

1. (informal) Very well (in a very satisfactory manner).

   Those mechanical colored pencils work great because they don’t have to be sharpened.

Translations[edit]

References[edit]

Anagrams[edit]

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

Old English[edit]

Etymology[edit]

From Proto-West Germanic *graut, from Proto-Germanic *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[edit]

• IPA^(key): /ɡræ͜ɑːt/

Adjective[edit]

grēat

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

Declension[edit]

Derived terms[edit]

• grēatnes

Descendants[edit]

• Middle English: grete, greet; girt, gert
  • English: great, (dialectal) gert
    • → Welsh: grêt
  • Scots: great, greet, grete, greit
  • Yola: graat

Scots[edit]

Alternative forms[edit]

• greet, grete, greit

Etymology[edit]

From Middle English grete, from Old English grēat, from Proto-West Germanic *graut, from Proto-Germanic *grautaz.

Pronunciation[edit]

• IPA^(key): [ɡrɛt], [ɡrɪt]
• (North Northern Scots) IPA^(key): [ɡrit]

Adjective[edit]

great (comparative greater, superlative greatest)

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

noun

adjective

Extra examples

Word forms

noun
singular: great
plural: greats

adjective
comparative: greater
superlative: greatest