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Major

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ma⋅jor

  [mey-jer]
Use Major in a Sentence
–noun
1. a commissioned military officer ranking next below a lieutenant colonel and next above a captain.
2. one of superior rank, ability, etc., in a specified class.
3. Education.
a. a subject or field of study chosen by a student to represent his or her principal interest and upon which a large share of his or her efforts are concentrated: History was my major at college.
b. a student engaged in such study.
4. a person of full legal age (opposed to minor ).
5. Music. a major interval, chord, scale, etc.
6. the majors,
a. Sports. the major leagues: He coached in the majors as well as in the minors.
b. the companies or organizations that lead or control a particular field of activity: the oil majors.
–adjective
7. greater in size, extent, or importance: the major part of the town.
8. great, as in rank or importance: a major political issue; a major artist.
9. serious or risky: a major operation.
10. of or pertaining to the majority: the major opinion.
11. of full legal age.
12. Music.
a. (of an interval) being between the tonic and the second, third, sixth, or seventh degrees of a major scale: a major third; a major sixth.
b. (of a chord) having a major third between the root and the note next above it.
13. pertaining to the subject in which a student takes the most courses: Her major field is English history.
14. (initial capital letter) (of one of two male students in an English public school who have the same surname) being the elder or higher in standing: Hobbes Major is not of a scientific bent.
–verb (used without object)
15. to follow a major course of study: He is majoring in physics.
Origin:
1350–1400; < L, comp. of magnus large (cf. majesty ); r. ME majour < AF < L, as above

Synonyms:
8. See capital 1 .

Ma⋅jor

  [mey-jer]
–noun
1. Clarence, born 1936, U.S. novelist and poet.
2. John, born 1943, British political leader: prime minister 1990–97.
Dictionary.com Unabridged
Based on the Random House Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2009.
Cite This Source Link To Major
ma·jor   (mā'jər)   
adj.  
  1. Greater than others in importance or rank: a major artist.
  2. Great in scope or effect: a major improvement.
  3. Great in number, size, or extent: the major portion of the population.
  4. Requiring great attention or concern; very serious: a major illness.
  5. Law Having attained full legal age.
  6. Of or relating to the field of academic study in which a student specializes.
  7. Music
    1. Designating a scale or mode having half steps between the third and fourth and the seventh and eighth degrees.
    2. Equivalent to the distance between the tonic note and the second or third or sixth or seventh degrees of a major scale or mode: a major interval.
    3. Based on a major scale: a major key.
n.  
    1. Abbr. MAJ or Maj or Maj. A commissioned rank in the U.S. Army, Air Force, or Marine Corps that is above captain and below lieutenant colonel.
    2. One who holds this rank.
    3. A field of study chosen as an academic specialty.
    4. A student specializing in such studies: a linguistics major.
    5. A major premise.
    6. A major term.
    7. A major scale, key, interval, or mode.
    8. A chord containing a major third between the first and second notes and a minor third between the second and third notes.
  2. One that is superior in rank, importance, or ability: an oil-producing country considered as one of the majors.
  3. Law One who has reached full legal age.
    1. A field of study chosen as an academic specialty.
    2. A student specializing in such studies: a linguistics major.
    3. A major premise.
    4. A major term.
    5. A major scale, key, interval, or mode.
    6. A chord containing a major third between the first and second notes and a minor third between the second and third notes.
  5. Logic
    1. A major premise.
    2. A major term.
    3. A major scale, key, interval, or mode.
    4. A chord containing a major third between the first and second notes and a minor third between the second and third notes.
  6. Music
    1. A major scale, key, interval, or mode.
    2. A chord containing a major third between the first and second notes and a minor third between the second and third notes.
  7. majors Sports The major leagues.
intr.v.   ma·jored, ma·jor·ing, ma·jors
To pursue academic studies in a major: majoring in mathematics.

[Middle English majour, from Latin māior; see meg- in Indo-European roots.]
Ma·jor   (mā'jər)   
British banker and conservative politician who served as prime minister from 1990 to 1997. During his administration he advocated privatization, anti-inflationary budget discipline, and negotiations for peace in Northern Ireland.
The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition
Copyright © 2009 by Houghton Mifflin Company.
Published by Houghton Mifflin Company. All rights reserved.
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Major

Ma"jor\, [L. major, compar. of magnus great: cf. F. majeur. Cf. Master, Mayor, Magnitude, More, a.]

1. Greater in number, quantity, or extent; as, the major part of the assembly; the major part of the revenue; the major part of the territory.

2. Of greater dignity; more important. --Shak.

3. Of full legal age. [Obs.]

4. (Mus.) Greater by a semitone, either in interval or in difference of pitch from another tone.

Major axis (Geom.), the greater axis. See Focus, n., 2.

Major key (Mus.), a key in which one and two, two and three, four and five, five and six and seven, make major seconds, and three and four, and seven and eight, make minor seconds.

Major offense (Law), an offense of a greater degree which contains a lesser offense, as murder and robbery include assault.

Major premise (Logic), that premise of a syllogism which contains the major term.

Major scale (Mus.), the natural diatonic scale, which has semitones between the third and fourth, and seventh and fourth, and seventh and eighth degrees; the scale of the major mode, of which the third is major. See Scale, and Diatonic.

Major second (Mus.), a second between whose tones is a difference in pitch of a step.

Major sixth (Mus.), a sixth of four steps and a half step. In major keys the third and sixth from the key tone are major. Major keys and intervals, as distinguished from minors, are more cheerful.

Major term (Logic), that term of a syllogism which forms the predicate of the conclusion.

Major third (Mus.), a third of two steps.

Major

Ma"jor\, n. [F. major. See Major, a.]

1. (Mil.) An officer next in rank above a captain and next below a lieutenant colonel; the lowest field officer.

2. (Law) A person of full age.

3. (Logic) That premise which contains the major term. It its the first proposition of a regular syllogism; as: No unholy person is qualified for happiness in heaven [the major]. Every man in his natural state is unholy [minor]. Therefore, no man in his natural state is qualified for happiness in heaven [conclusion or inference].

Note: In hypothetical syllogisms, the hypothetical premise is called the major.

4. [LL. See Major.] A mayor. [Obs.] --Bacon.
Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary, © 1996, 1998 MICRA, Inc.
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Language Translation for : Major
Spanish: mayor, principal,
German: bedeutend,
Japanese: 重要な
More Translations »

major  (adj.)
c.1400, from L. major (earlier *magjos), irregular comp. of magnus "large, great" (see magnate). Used in music (of modes, scales, or chords) since 1694, on notion of an interval a half-tone greater than the minor. The verb meaning "focus (one's) studies" is 1924, from noun in sense of "subject of specialization" (1890). The adv. form majorly emerged c.1990.

major  (n.)
military rank, 1643, from Fr., short for sergent-major, originally a higher rank than at present, from M.L. major "chief officer, magnate, superior person," from L. major "an elder, adult," noun use of the adjective (see major (adj.)).
Online Etymology Dictionary, © 2001 Douglas Harper
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Main Entry: ma·jor
Function: noun
: a person who has attained majority —compare MINOR
Merriam-Webster's Dictionary of Law, © 1996 Merriam-Webster, Inc.
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Main Entry: ma·jor
Pronunciation: 'mA-j&r
Function: adjective
: involving grave risk : SERIOUS major illness> major operative procedure> —compare MINOR
Merriam-Webster's Medical Dictionary, © 2002 Merriam-Webster, Inc.
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