much

¹much

adjective \ˈməch\

more \ˈmȯr\ most \ˈmōst\

Definition of MUCH

1

a : great in quantity, amount, extent, or degree <there is much truth in what you say> <taken too much time>

b : great in importance or significance <nothing much happened>

2

obsolete : many in number

3

: more than is expected or acceptable : more than enough <the large pizza is a bit much for one person>

— too much

1

: wonderful, exciting

2

: terrible, awful

Origin of MUCH

Middle English muche large, much, from michel, muchel, from Old English micel, mycel; akin to Old High German mihhil great, large, Latin magnus, Greek megas, Sanskrit mahat

First Known Use: 13th century

Related to MUCH

Synonyms

big, consequential, earthshaking, earth-shattering, eventful, historic, major, material, meaningful, momentous, monumental, important, significant, substantial, tectonic, weighty

Antonyms

inconsequential, inconsiderable, insignificant, little, minor, negligible, slight, small, trifling, trivial, unimportant

Related Words

decisive, fatal, fateful, strategic; earnest, grave, heavy, serious, sincere; distinctive, exceptional, impressive, outstanding, prominent, remarkable; valuable, worthwhile, worthy; distinguished, eminent, great, illustrious, noble, notable, noteworthy, outstanding, preeminent, prestigious; famous, notorious, renowned; all-important, central, critical, crucial, essential, key, pivotal, seminal, vital

Near Antonyms

paltry, petty, worthless; anonymous, nameless, obscure, uncelebrated, unknown

Rhymes with MUCH

clutch, crutch, cutch, dutch, Dutch, grutch, hutch, scutch, smutch, such, touch

²much

adverb

moremost

Definition of MUCH

1

a (1) : to a great degree or extent : considerably <much happier> (2) : very <much gratified>

b (1) : frequently, often (2) : by or for a long time <didn't get to work much before noon>

c : by far <was much the brightest student>

2

: nearly, approximately <looks much the way his father did>

— as much

1

: the same in quantity <not quite as much money>

2

: to the same degree

Examples of MUCH

1. The new car is much better on gas mileage.
2. They both talk too much.
3. Thank you so much for your help.
4. He is much interested in the project.
5. They were much pleased by the compliment.
6. She doesn't visit her family much.
7. The town looks much the same.
8. We came to much the same conclusion.
9. We left the house much as we found it.

First Known Use of MUCH

13th century

Related to MUCH

Synonyms

achingly, almighty, archly, awful, awfully, badly, beastly, blisteringly, bone, colossally, corking, cracking, damn, damned, dang, deadly, desperately, eminently, enormously, especially, ever, exceedingly (also 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, most, very, 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, vitally, way, whacking, wicked, wildly

Antonyms

little, negligibly, nominally, slightly, somewhat

Related Words

absolutely, altogether, completely, downright, entirely, flat-out, fully, positively, purely, radically, thoroughly, totally, utterly, wholly; deeply, profoundly; exceptionally, notably, remarkably; considerably, extensively, significantly, substantially; appreciably, discernibly, markedly, noticeably, obviously, palpably, plainly, visibly; abundantly, plentifully; astronomically, grandly, monstrously, monumentally; excessively, obscenely, overmuch; amazingly, astonishingly, staggeringly

Near Antonyms

meagerly, scantily; barely, hardly, just, marginally, minimally, scarcely

³much

noun

Definition of MUCH

1

: a great quantity, amount, extent, or degree <gave away much>

2

: something considerable or impressive

Examples of MUCH

1. <much of what people think they know about words is inaccurate or downright false>

First Known Use of MUCH

13th century

Related to MUCH

Synonyms

abundance, barrel, basketful, boatload, bucket, bunch, bundle, bushel, carload, chunk, deal, dozen, fistful, gobs, good deal, heap, hundred, lashings (also lashins) [chiefly British], loads, mass, mess, mountain, lot, multiplicity, myriad, oodles, pack, passel, peck, pile, plateful, plenitude, plentitude, plenty, pot, potful, profusion, quantity, raft, reams, scads, sheaf, shipload, sight, slew, spate, stack, store, ton, truckload, volume, wad, wealth, yard

Antonyms

ace, bit, dab, dram, driblet, glimmer, handful, hint, lick, little, mite, mouthful, nip, ounce, peanuts, pinch, pittance, scruple, shade, shadow, smidgen (also smidgeon or smidgin or smidge), speck, spot, sprinkle, sprinkling, strain, streak, suspicion, tad, taste, touch, trace

Related Words

epidemic, plague, rash; bonanza, embarrassment, excess, overabundance, overage, overkill, overmuch, oversupply, plethora, redundancy, superabundance, superfluity, surfeit, surplus; deluge, flood, overflow; army, bevy, cram, crowd, crush, drove, flock, herd, horde, host, legion, mob, multitude, press, score, sea, swarm, throng; gazillion, jillion, kazillion, million, thousands, trillion, zillion

Near Antonyms

atom, crumb, dot, fleck, flyspeck, fragment, grain, granule, iota, jot, modicum, molecule, mote, nubbin, particle, ray, scintilla, scrap, shred, tittle, whit; smatter, smattering; dash, drop, morsel, shot; piece, portion, section; absence, dearth, famine, lack, paucity, poverty, scarceness, scarcity, shortage, undersupply, want; deficiency, deficit, inadequacy, insufficiency, meagerness, scantiness, scantness, skimpiness