Vast - Definitions from Dictionary.com

8 results for: Vast

Dictionary.com Unabridged (v 1.1) - Cite This Source - Share This

vast

Audio Help [vast, vahst] Pronunciation Key adjective, -er, -est, noun

–adjective

1.	of very great area or extent; immense: the vast reaches of outer space.

2.	of very great size or proportions; huge; enormous: vast piles of rubble left in the wake of the war.

3.	very great in number, quantity, amount, etc.: vast sums of money.

4.	very great in degree, intensity, etc.: an artisan of vast skill.

–noun

5.	Literary. an immense or boundless expanse or space.

[Origin: 1565–75; < L vastus empty, immense

]

—Related forms

vastly, adverb

vastness, noun

—Synonyms 1. measureless, boundless, gigantic, colossal, stupendous.

—Antonyms 1. small.

Dictionary.com Unabridged (v 1.1)
Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2006.

Encyclopædia Britannica, Inc.
Vast

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American Heritage Dictionary - Cite This Source - Share This

vast Audio Help (vāst) Pronunciation Key
adj. vast·er, vast·est

Very great in size, number, amount, or quantity.
Very great in area or extent; immense.
Very great in degree or intensity. See Synonyms at enormous.

n. Archaic
An immense space.

[Latin vāstus.]

vast'ly adv., vast'ness n.

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The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition
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Online Etymology Dictionary - Cite This Source - Share This
vast

1575, from M.Fr. vaste, from L. vastus "immense, extensive, huge," also "desolate, unoccupied, empty." The two meanings probably originally attached to two separate words, one with a long -a- one with a short -a-, that merged in early Latin (see waste). Very popular early 18c. as an intensifier.

WordNet - Cite This Source - Share This

vast
adjective
unusually great in size or amount or degree or especially extent or scope; "huge government spending"; "huge country estates"; "huge popular demand for higher education"; "a huge wave"; "the Los Angeles aqueduct winds like an immense snake along the base of the mountains"; "immense numbers of birds"; "at vast (or immense) expense"; "the vast reaches of outer space"; "the vast accumulation of knowledge...which we call civilization"- W.R.Inge [syn: huge]

Kernerman English Multilingual Dictionary - Cite This Source - Share This
vast [vaːst] adjective

of very great size or amount
Example: He inherited a vast fortune.

Arabic:	واسِع، فَسيح
Chinese (Simplified):	深远的
Chinese (Traditional):	深遠的
Czech:	obrovský
Danish:	enorm
Dutch:	enorm, uitgestrekt
Estonian:	tohutu
Finnish:	valtava
French:	immense
German:	unermeßlich
Greek:	τεράστιος
Hungarian:	óriási
Icelandic:	gríðarstór, feiknamikill
Indonesian:	besar
Italian:	vasto, enorme

Japanese:	巨大な
Korean:	거대한, 엄청난
Latvian:	plašs; liels; bezgalīgs
Lithuanian:	didžiulis
Norwegian:	enorm, veldig, uhyre
Polish:	ogromny
Portuguese (Brazil):	vasto
Portuguese (Portugal):	vasto
Romanian:	mare; imens
Russian:	огромный
Slovak:	obrovský
Slovenian:	ogromen
Spanish:	vasto, inmenso
Swedish:	väldig, ofantlig
Turkish:	çok büyük, uçsuz bucaksız

Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary - Cite This Source - Share This

Vast

Dev"as*tate\ (?; 277), v. t. [imp. & p. p. Devastated; p. pr. & vb. n. Devastating.] [L. devastatus, p. p. of devastare to devastate; de + vastare to lay waste, vastus waste. See Vast.] To lay waste; to ravage; to desolate.

Whole countries . . . were devastated. --Macaulay.

Syn: To waste; ravage; desolate; destroy; demolish; plunder; pillage.

Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary - Cite This Source - Share This

Vast

Vast\, a. [Compar. Vaster; superl. Vastest.] [L. vastus empty, waste, enormous, immense: cf. F. vaste. See Waste, and cf. Devastate.]

1. Waste; desert; desolate; lonely. [Obs.]

The empty, vast, and wandering air. --Shak.

2. Of great extent; very spacious or large; also, huge in bulk; immense; enormous; as, the vast ocean; vast mountains; the vast empire of Russia.

Through the vast and boundless deep. --Milton.

3. Very great in numbers, quantity, or amount; as, a vast army; a vast sum of money.

4. Very great in importance; as, a subject of vast concern.

Syn: Enormous; huge; immense; mighty.