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vast - 5 dictionary results

vast

  [vast, vahst] adjective, -er, -est, noun
Use vast in a Sentence
–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
Based on the Random House Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2009.
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vast   (vāst)   
adj.   vast·er, vast·est
  1. Very great in size, number, amount, or quantity.
  2. Very great in area or extent; immense.
  3. Very great in degree or intensity. See Synonyms at enormous.
n.   Archaic
An immense space.

[Latin vāstus.]
vast'ly adv., vast'ness n.
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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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.

Vast

Vast\, n. A waste region; boundless space; immensity. "The watery vast." --Pope.

Michael bid sound The archangel trumpet. Through the vast of heaven It sounded. --Milton.
Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary, © 1996, 1998 MICRA, Inc.
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Language Translation for : vast
Spanish: vasto, inmenso,
German: unermeßlich,
Japanese: 巨大な
More Translations »

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.
Online Etymology Dictionary, © 2001 Douglas Harper
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