great 1 of 2

adjective

ˈgrāt How to pronounce great (audio)
Definition of greatnext
1
as in excellent
of the very best kind this cake is great!

Synonyms & Similar Words

Relevance

Antonyms & Near Antonyms
2
as in skillful
having or showing exceptional knowledge, experience, or skill in a field of endeavor one of the great anthropologists

Synonyms & Similar Words

Antonyms & Near Antonyms
3
as in noble
having, characterized by, or arising from a dignified and generous nature a great humanitarian great acts of charity

Synonyms & Similar Words

Antonyms & Near Antonyms
4
as in long
lasting for a considerable time haven't seen them in a great while

Synonyms & Similar Words

Antonyms & Near Antonyms
5
as in large
of a size greater than average of its kind saw a great moose calmly walking through our backyard

Synonyms & Similar Words

Antonyms & Near Antonyms
6
as in excited
showing urgent desire or interest she's great on any type of sport that requires endurance

Synonyms & Similar Words

Antonyms & Near Antonyms
7
as in greatest
coming before all others in importance regards global warming as the great issue of the day

Synonyms & Similar Words

Antonyms & Near Antonyms
8
as in aristocratic
of high birth, rank, or station a descendant of one of the great families of Philadelphia

Synonyms & Similar Words

Antonyms & Near Antonyms

great

2 of 2

adverb

as in nicely
in a pleasing way the game was going great for the home team

Synonyms & Similar Words

Antonyms & Near Antonyms

Example Sentences

Examples are automatically compiled from online sources to show current usage. Read More Opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback.
Recent Examples of great
Adjective
Matt Fitzpatrick, coming off a victory last week in France, also got off to a great start with six birdies in his opening seven holes. — ABC News, 3 Oct. 2026 Quarterback Julian Sayin has looked great so far with 10 touchdowns and 1,206 passing yards for the year. — Outkick, FOXNews.com, 3 Oct. 2026
Adverb
Beyond my ultra-chic (and great-smelling) mother’s stamp of approval, the brand’s luxurious perfume portfolio has earned praise from Meghan Markle, Kate Middleton, Jennifer Aniston, and Katie Holmes, to name a few. — Kyra Surgent, InStyle, 12 Aug. 2026 But Malonga soon too will push the rebuilding Storm to future deep postseason runs like the ex-Storm great once did. — Fiifi Frimpong, New York Daily News, 6 Aug. 2026 See All Example Sentences for great
Recent Examples of Synonyms for great
  1. excellent
  2. skillful
  3. noble
  4. long
  5. large
  6. excited
  7. main
  8. aristocratic
Adjective
  • Longbridge is an excellent option, especially for those looking to save money.
    — Liz Knueven,Kelsey Neubauer, CNBC, 28 Sep. 2026
  • Pricing for the conversion starts at 100,000 euros, or roughly $113,670, but does not include the donor 944, which runs around $60,000 in excellent condition, according to Hagerty.
    — Bryan Hood, Robb Report, 28 Sep. 2026
Definition of excellent
Adjective
  • But be that guy that can be skillful, a bruiser, fast and tough.
    — Charles Baggarly, Fort Worth Star-Telegram, 4 Sep. 2026
  • As Musashi scrambles through a school of Samurai, the game seamlessly bounces between skillful swordplay, rowdy improvisation, and Looney Tunes-style levity.
    — Zackery Cuevas, PC Magazine, 31 Aug. 2026
Definition of skillful
Adjective
  • Educating young people, and pushing them to earn a college degree, are noble ambitions, but those are no longer the priorities in NCAA Power Four football.
    — Fort Worth Star-Telegram, Fort Worth Star-Telegram, 22 Sep. 2026
  • In the film’s ostensible present, as the lengthy raid unfolds, a noble, unnamed police constable (Anurag Thakur) objects to his superiors’ methods and their persecution of Devi at large.
    — Siddhant Adlakha, IndieWire, 21 Sep. 2026
Definition of noble
Adjective
  • For the longest time, artificial intelligence companies competed to make each new model faster and smarter.
    — Lim Hui Jie, CNBC, 29 Sep. 2026
  • Where a milk chocolate brown once kissed and colored her long, blended layers, a dark brown — almost black — shade now stood.
    — Kaleigh Werner, Footwear News, 28 Sep. 2026
Definition of long
Adjective
  • Ownership wants a salary cap to give clubs long-term certainty over their largest cost.
    — Chris Koras, Sportico.com, 28 Sep. 2026
  • Growth in the world’s second-largest economy softened to its slowest in more than three years in the second quarter, as a multiyear property downturn continued to depress consumer demand and investment in real estate and infrastructure.
    — Anniek Bao, CNBC, 28 Sep. 2026
Definition of large
Adjective
  • More than 80% of Chinese felt excited about AI applications, KPMG reported last year; only half that percentage of Americans felt the same.
    — Arkansas Online, Arkansas Online, 3 Oct. 2026
  • Many studies have found that children get excited about getting their own books in the mail, addressed to them personally.
    — Alex H. Poole, The Conversation, 2 Oct. 2026
Definition of excited
Adjective
  • Construction of the project’s main underground access portal began in February 2026.
    — Kaif Shaikh, Interesting Engineering, 27 Sep. 2026
  • This, Rostov’s main thoroughfare, wasn’t illuminated by the familiar bright glare of its many street lamps, or by light from its windows, now blacked out, but emerged from the darkness all the more gently in a milky cloak of moonlight.
    — Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn, New Yorker, 27 Sep. 2026
Definition of main
Adjective
  • The aristocratic Spencer family has been buoying the yellow pages of The Sun, The Daily Mail, and The Mirror for nearly 50 years.
    — Elise Taylor, Vanity Fair, 29 Sep. 2026
  • The latest lesson was about the aristocratic and bourgeois aspect of Gucci.
    — Luisa Zargani, Footwear News, 25 Sep. 2026
Definition of aristocratic

Phrases Containing great

Browse Nearby Words

greasy spoons
great
greatcoat
See all Nearby Words

Cite this Entry

“Great.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/great. Accessed 4 Oct. 2026.

Copy Citation
Last Updated: - Updated example sentences
Love words? Need even more definitions?

Subscribe to America's largest dictionary and get thousands more definitions and advanced search—ad free!

Popular in Grammar & Usage

See More

Do You Need a New Language Peeve?

More Commonly Mispronounced Words

Merriam-Webster’s Great Big List of Words You Love to Hate

'A' or 'an'? What about before 'h'? An Indefinite Article Guide

Why is '-ed' sometimes pronounced at the end of a word?
See More

Popular in Wordplay

See More

7 Great Ways to Say 'Great'

The Longest Long Words List

9 Words That Sound Like Insults But Aren't

The Words of the Week - Oct. 2

12 Lovely and Unusual Words for the Natural World
See More

Popular

See More

Do You Need a New Language Peeve?

7 Great Ways to Say 'Great'

The Longest Long Words List
See More

Games & Quizzes

See All
Play Quordle: Guess all four words in a limited number of tries. Each of your guesses must be a real 5-letter word.
Quordle Can you solve 4 words at once?
Play Blossom: Solve today's spelling word game by finding as many words as you can using just 7 letters. Longer words score more points.
Blossom Pick the best words!
Play Missing Letter: a crossword with a twist. Each of the 25 puzzle words start with a different letter of the alphabet. Which letter is missing?
The Missing Letter A daily crossword with a twist
name tags
Words Named After People Quiz Find out who’s behind "leotard," "morphine," an...
See All