Definitions

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition.

  • adjective Great in quantity, degree, or extent.
  • noun A large quantity or amount.
  • noun Something great or remarkable.
  • adverb To a great degree or extent.
  • adverb Just about; almost.
  • adverb Frequently; often.
  • idiom (as much) Almost the same.

from The Century Dictionary.

  • In a great degree; to a great amount or extent; greatly; far.
  • Very.
  • In this sense much was formerly often used ironically, implying denial.
  • In present use, much or very much corresponds, before a comparative or a superlative with the, to very before a positive: thus, very great, but much or very much greater, much or very much the greatest.
  • Nearly: usually emphasizing the sense of indefiniteness.
  • [The adverb much is very often prefixed to participial forms, etc., to make compound adjectives: as, much- abused, much -enduring, much -debated.]
  • To make much; increase.
  • To make much of; coax; stroke gently.
  • Great in size; big; large.
  • Great in quantity or extent; abundant.
  • Many in number.
  • High in position, rank, or social station; important.
  • [Colloq.]
  • noun A large quantity; a great deal.
  • noun A great, uncommon, or serious thing; something strange, wonderful, or considerable.

from the GNU version of the Collaborative International Dictionary of English.

  • adverb To a great degree or extent; greatly; abundantly; far; nearly.
  • adjective Great in quantity; long in duration
  • adjective Archaic Many in number.
  • adjective obsolete High in rank or position.
  • noun A great quantity; a great deal; also, an indefinite quantity.
  • noun A thing uncommon, wonderful, or noticeable; something considerable.
  • noun to treat as something of especial value or worth.

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.

  • adverb To a great extent.
  • adverb Often; frequently.
  • pronoun A large amount or great extent.

from WordNet 3.0 Copyright 2006 by Princeton University. All rights reserved.

  • adverb to a great degree or extent
  • adverb to a very great degree or extent
  • adjective (quantifier used with mass nouns) great in quantity or degree or extent
  • adverb (degree adverb used before a noun phrase) for all practical purposes but not completely
  • noun a great amount or extent
  • adverb frequently or in great quantities
  • adverb very

Etymologies

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 4th Edition

[Middle English muche, short for muchel, from Old English mycel; see meg- in Indo-European roots.]

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License

From Middle English muche ("much, great"), apocopated variant of muchel ("much, great"), from Old English myċel, miċel ("large, great, much"), from Proto-Germanic *mikilaz (“great, many, much”), from Proto-Indo-European *meǵa- (“big, stour, great”). See also mickle, muckle.

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