1
: greatest in quantity, extent, or degree
the most ability
2
: the majority of
most people
1
: to the greatest or highest degree
—often used with an adjective or adverb to form the superlative
the most challenging job he ever had
2
: to a very great degree
was most persuasive
: the greatest amount
it's the most I can do
singular or plural in construction
: the greatest number or part
most become discouraged and quit
: almost
we'll be crossing the river most any time now—
Hamilton Basso
Hamilton Basso
Can most be used in place of almost?: Usage Guide
Although considered by some to be unacceptable in all cases, most is often used to mean "almost" in both spoken and, to a lesser extent, written English to modify the adjectives all, every, and any; the pronouns all, everyone, everything, everybody, anyone, anything, and anybody; and the adverbs everywhere, anywhere, and always. Other uses of this sense of most are dialectal.
: most
innermost
: most toward
headmost
Synonyms
Adjective
Adverb (1)
- achingly
- almighty
- archly
- awful
- awfully
- badly
- beastly
- blisteringly
- bone
- colossally
- corking
- cracking
- damn
- damned
- dang
- deadly
- desperately
- eminently
- enormously
- especially
- ever
- exceedingly
- exceeding
- extra
- extremely
- fabulously
- fantastically
- far
- fiercely
- filthy
- frightfully
- full
- greatly
- heavily
- highly
- hugely
- immensely
- incredibly
- intensely
- jolly
- majorly
- mightily
- mighty
- monstrous [chiefly dialect]
- mortally
- much
- particularly
- passing
- rattling
- real
- really
- right
- roaring
- roaringly
- seriously
- severely
- so
- sore
- sorely
- spanking
- specially
- stinking
- such
- super
- supremely
- surpassingly
- terribly
- that
- thumping
- too
- unco
- uncommonly
- vastly
- very
- vitally
- way
- whacking
- wicked
- wildly
Noun
Adverb (2)
Examples of most in a Sentence
Adjective
Choosing a color took the most time.
That family owned the most land.
Unfortunately the negative aspects of our schools get the most attention.
Adverb (1)
a most careful driver, especially in bad weather
Noun
this room will accommodate 50 people at the most
Adverb (2)
the cost of most everything is higher nowadays
Recent Examples on the WebCynthia Littleton, Variety, 22 May 2024
Iowa had braced for severe weather after the weather service’s Storm Prediction Center gave most of the state a high chance of seeing severe thunderstorms with the potential for strong tornadoes.
—Hannah Fingerhut, Los Angeles Times, 22 May 2024
The police didn’t have the education or capacity to collect basic technical evidence, nor did most judges understand it.
—Matthieu Aikins Victor J. Blue Peter Ganim Krish Seenivasan Steven Szczesniak, New York Times, 22 May 2024
The venture mindset leads decision makers to reject most ideas quickly to save time for the extensive due diligence that the best ideas require.
—Ilya Strebulaev and Alex Dang, TIME, 22 May 2024
But most of the reporting has been more narrowly focused on what the men have been accused of and the moral and legal merits — or lack thereof — of their tactics.
—Michael Smolens, San Diego Union-Tribune, 22 May 2024
Russians destroyed the city in 2022, killing or driving out most of the population.
—Claire Harbage, NPR, 22 May 2024
That agreement typically tracks with the Basic Agreement in most respects.
—Gene Maddaus, Variety, 11 May 2024
Jones recalls being struck most of all by what Kelly’s work displaced.
—Adam Bradley, New York Times, 10 May 2024
Lionel Lim, Fortune Asia, 23 May 2024
While Japan is still the single most important source of investment for China, the speed of investment has slowed.
—Bloomberg News, TIME, 23 May 2024
Four of the medals most recently acquired by the treasurer’s office were displayed in their black cases Thursday.
—Kate Armanini, Chicago Tribune, 23 May 2024
Among the special guests, Public Enemy’s one-night appearance on the first weekend may be most unique at this point in time.
—Chris Willman, Variety, 22 May 2024
Foodies and content creators can check out some of Miami’s most popular restaurants including Watr, Bâoli and Cafe Bastille.
—Lauryn Jiles, Miami Herald, 22 May 2024
The Department of Homeland Security, in charge of Trump’s most important campaign ...
—Dominic Pino, National Review, 22 May 2024
Throughout the Trinity River’s recorded history, the waterway has been called many names — most often insulting epithets such as the Big Ditch.
—Hollace Ava Weiner, Fort Worth Star-Telegram, 11 May 2024
This freedom could explain the R&D and manufacturing resources put into some of Rolex’s most extreme watches, such as the first Deep Sea and even the relatively commonplace Daytona, which was a commercial failure for decades.
—Allen Farmelo, Robb Report, 11 May 2024
Adjective
The launch of the company’s TV Plus platform in 2016 was a flop, executives admit, because the platform was built to offer something that most TV set owners didn’t want to buy from Samsung.
—Cynthia Littleton, Variety, 22 May 2024
Iowa had braced for severe weather after the weather service’s Storm Prediction Center gave most of the state a high chance of seeing severe thunderstorms with the potential for strong tornadoes.
—Hannah Fingerhut, Los Angeles Times, 22 May 2024
The police didn’t have the education or capacity to collect basic technical evidence, nor did most judges understand it.
—Matthieu Aikins Victor J. Blue Peter Ganim Krish Seenivasan Steven Szczesniak, New York Times, 22 May 2024
The venture mindset leads decision makers to reject most ideas quickly to save time for the extensive due diligence that the best ideas require.
—Ilya Strebulaev and Alex Dang, TIME, 22 May 2024
But most of the reporting has been more narrowly focused on what the men have been accused of and the moral and legal merits — or lack thereof — of their tactics.
—Michael Smolens, San Diego Union-Tribune, 22 May 2024
Russians destroyed the city in 2022, killing or driving out most of the population.
—Claire Harbage, NPR, 22 May 2024
That agreement typically tracks with the Basic Agreement in most respects.
—Gene Maddaus, Variety, 11 May 2024
Jones recalls being struck most of all by what Kelly’s work displaced.
—Adam Bradley, New York Times, 10 May 2024
Adverb
The Southeast Asian country banked on several high-profile events—most notably superstar Taylor Swift—to jumpstart tourism spending.
—Lionel Lim, Fortune Asia, 23 May 2024
While Japan is still the single most important source of investment for China, the speed of investment has slowed.
—Bloomberg News, TIME, 23 May 2024
Four of the medals most recently acquired by the treasurer’s office were displayed in their black cases Thursday.
—Kate Armanini, Chicago Tribune, 23 May 2024
Among the special guests, Public Enemy’s one-night appearance on the first weekend may be most unique at this point in time.
—Chris Willman, Variety, 22 May 2024
Foodies and content creators can check out some of Miami’s most popular restaurants including Watr, Bâoli and Cafe Bastille.
—Lauryn Jiles, Miami Herald, 22 May 2024
The Department of Homeland Security, in charge of Trump’s most important campaign ...
—Dominic Pino, National Review, 22 May 2024
Throughout the Trinity River’s recorded history, the waterway has been called many names — most often insulting epithets such as the Big Ditch.
—Hollace Ava Weiner, Fort Worth Star-Telegram, 11 May 2024
This freedom could explain the R&D and manufacturing resources put into some of Rolex’s most extreme watches, such as the first Deep Sea and even the relatively commonplace Daytona, which was a commercial failure for decades.
—Allen Farmelo, Robb Report, 11 May 2024
These examples are programmatically compiled from various online sources to illustrate current usage of the word 'most.' Any opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback about these examples.
Dictionary Entries Near most
Cite this Entry
“Most.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/most. Accessed 28 May. 2024.
Copy CitationKids Definition
most
1 of 5 adjective1
: the majority of
most people believe this
2
: greatest in amount or extent
the most ability
most
2 of 5 adverb1
: to the greatest or highest level or extent
—often used with an adjective or adverb to form the superlative
most active
most actively
2
: to a very great extent
a most careful driver
most
3 of 5 noun
: the greatest amount, number, or part
most
4 of 5 adverb
: almost
the cost of most everything is higher
-most
5 of 5 adjective suffixˌmōst
: most
innermost
Etymology
Adjective suffix
Middle English -most "most"
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