great

great1 [ greıt ] adjective ***

▸ 1 (not) good/enjoyable

▸ 2 more than usual

▸ 3 important/powerful

▸ 4 able to do something well

▸ 5 for expressing pleasure

▸ 6 enthusiastic

▸ 7 in another generation

▸ + PHRASES

1. ) INFORMAL very good, enjoyable, or attractive:

This cake tastes great.

We had a great day.

You looked great in that outfit.

This is a great place for families.

a ) used about someone who is nice and a pleasure to be with:

He's a great guy.

a great friend

b ) used for saying that something that you expected to be good, enjoyable, etc. is not:

That's just great! Now I'll have do it all over again.

2. ) bigger or more than is usual:

She had great difficulty in guessing where I was from.

They could be in great danger.

He was in a great hurry.

It gives me great pleasure to welcome our next guest.

This is a great opportunity to raise a lot of money.

a ) only before noun SPOKEN used for emphasizing the physical size of something or someone:

great big: a great big piece of chocolate

b ) used for emphasizing a large number of people or things:

Shakespeare wrote a great many plays.

The great majority disagree.

c ) MAINLY LITERARY very large and impressive:

the great river

a great feast

d ) used in the names of buildings, rooms, or features of geography that are very large and impressive:

the castle's great hall

the Great Barrier Reef

e ) TECHNICAL used in the names of birds or animals that are larger than related birds or animals:

the great white shark

=> DEAL1

3. ) important or powerful:

a great military power

a ) used about an event or situation that affects a lot of people or a large area:

the greatest environmental disaster in decades

a great health-care crisis

b ) used in the names of important events in history:

the Great Depression of the 1930s

c ) used about someone famous or important who is admired by a lot of people, or about their work:

one of the greatest writers of the modern age

a great work of art

d ) INFORMAL used for emphasizing the most important feature of something:

The really great thing about this computer is its speed.

The great advantage is that this place is so close to town.

4. ) INFORMAL able to do something very well:

He's a great guitarist.

great at: She's great at math.

a ) able to deal with certain people very well:

Isn't she great with the children?

5. ) MAINLY SPOKEN used for expressing pleasure or agreement:

It's great to be here.

I think it's great that he has a girlfriend.

Great! I'll pick you up at eight, then.

6. ) INFORMAL enthusiastic about something or someone:

I'm your greatest admirer.

a great football fan

a great talker/walker/reader etc.: She's a great reader of biographies.

be a great one for (=be enthusiastic about): I've never been a great one for spiders and snakes.

7. ) used for showing relationships between previous GENERATIONS of family members. For example, your great-grandmother and great-grandfather are the parents of your grandparents. Your great-aunt is the sister of one of your grandparents.

great Scott/Heavens OLD-FASHIONED

used for expressing surprise, shock, or anger

great with child LITERARY

an old phrase meaning pregnant

=> GUN1, SHAKE 2

great

great 2 [ greıt ] adverb INFORMAL

very well:

You're doing great.

I don't think we played great.

Things are really going great.

great

great 3 [ greıt ] noun count

1. ) usually plural someone who is admired by a lot of people, especially someone famous:

Fred Perry is one of the all-time greats of tennis.

a ) something that is well known and admired by a lot of people:

an album of jazz greats

2. ) the Great used after the name of an important person in history for showing that they had a lot of power or respect:

Catherine the Great