greatness
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great
(grāt)adj. great·er, great·est
1.
a. Very large in size, extent, or intensity: a great pile of rubble; a great storm.
b. Of a larger size than other, similar forms: the great anteater.
c. Large in quantity or number: A great throng awaited us. See Synonyms at large.
d. Extensive in time or distance: a great delay; a great way off.
2.
a. Remarkable or outstanding in magnitude, degree, or extent: a great crisis; great anticipation.
b. Of outstanding significance or importance: a great work of art.
c. Chief or principal: the great house on the estate.
d. Superior in quality or character; noble: a great man who dedicated himself to helping others.
e. Powerful; influential: one of the great nations of the West.
f. Eminent; distinguished: a great leader.
3. Informal
a. Very good; first-rate: We had a great time at the dance.
b. Very skillful: She is great at algebra.
c. Enthusiastic: a great lover of music.
4. Being one generation removed from the relative specified. Often used in combination: a great-granddaughter.
5. Archaic Pregnant.
n.
1. pl. greats or great One that is great: a composer considered among the greats.
2. Music
a. A division of most pipe organs, usually containing the most powerful ranks of pipes.
b. A similar division of other organs.
adv. Informal
1. Very well: got along great with the teacher.
2. Used as an intensive with certain adjectives: a great big kiss.
[Middle English grete, from Old English grēat, thick, coarse.]
great′ly adv.
great′ness n.
American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fifth Edition. Copyright © 2016 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.
Greatness
See Also: FAME, INTELLIGENCE, MIND
- Early genius is like a cabbage: it doesn’t head well —Bartlett’s Dictionary of Americanisms
- A fine genius, in his own country, is like gold in the mine —Ben Franklin
- Genius, in one respect, is like gold —numbers of persons are constantly writing about both who have neither —Charles Caleb Colton
- Genius is like a flint of many edges, but it is the edges that give the sparkle —Moritz Gottlieb Saphir
- Genius, like humanity, rusts for want of use —William Hazlitt
- Genius, like water, will find its level —Proverb
- Genius must have talent as its complement and implement, just as, in like manner, imagination must have fancy —Samuel Taylor Coleridge Coleridge built on this simile as follows: “In short, the higher intellectual powers can only act through a corresponding energy of the lower.”
- Genius without education is like silver in the mine —Benjamin Franklin
- A genius without vices is like a race horse without a good jockey —Benjamin De Casseres
- Great men are like mountains; we do not appreciate their magnitude while we are still close to them —Joseph Chamberlain
- Great men are like meteors; they litter and are consumed to enlighten the world —Napoleon Bonaparte
- Great men, like great epochs, are explosive material in whom tremendous energy has been accumulated —Friedrich Nietzsche The simile is sometimes quoted with the word ‘ages’ substituted for ‘epochs.’
- Great men stand like solitary towers in the city of God —William Wadsworth Longfellow
- Great minds are like eagles, and build their nest in some lofty solitude —Arthur Schopenhauer
- It is with rivers as it is with people: the greatest are not always the most agreeable nor the best to live with —Henry Van Dyke
- Men of genius are like eagles, that live on what they kill, while men of talents are like crows, that live on what has been killed for them —Josh Billings In Billings’ special phonetic dialect this reads: “Men ov genius … tha live on what tha … while men ov … tha live on what haz bin killed for them.”
Similes Dictionary, 1st Edition. © 1988 The Gale Group, Inc. All rights reserved.
ThesaurusAntonymsRelated WordsSynonymsLegend:
Switch to new thesaurus
Noun | 1. | greatness - the property possessed by something or someone of outstanding importance or eminence importance - the quality of being important and worthy of note; "the importance of a well-balanced diet" |
2. | greatness - unusual largeness in size or extent or number enormity - vastness of size or extent; "in careful usage the noun enormity is not used to express the idea of great size"; "universities recognized the enormity of their task" |
Based on WordNet 3.0, Farlex clipart collection. © 2003-2012 Princeton University, Farlex Inc.
greatness
noun
2. fame, glory, celebrity, distinction, eminence, note, lustre, renown, illustriousness Abraham Lincoln achieved greatness.
Quotations
"No really great man ever thought himself so" [William Hazlitt Whether Genius is Conscious of Its Powers?]
"He is greatest who is most often in men's good thoughts" [Samuel Butler Note-Books]
"There would be no great ones if there were no little ones" [George Herbert Outlandish Proverbs]
"The greatest spirits are capable of the greatest vices as well as of the greatest virtues" [René Descartes Discourse on Method]
"It is the privilege of greatness to confer intense happiness with insignificant gifts" [Friedrich Nietzsche Human, All Too Human]
"Some are born great, some achieve greatness, and some have greatness thrust upon 'em" [William Shakespeare Twelfth Night]
"Few great men could pass Personnel" [Paul Goodman Growing Up Absurd]
"No really great man ever thought himself so" [William Hazlitt Whether Genius is Conscious of Its Powers?]
"He is greatest who is most often in men's good thoughts" [Samuel Butler Note-Books]
"There would be no great ones if there were no little ones" [George Herbert Outlandish Proverbs]
"The greatest spirits are capable of the greatest vices as well as of the greatest virtues" [René Descartes Discourse on Method]
"It is the privilege of greatness to confer intense happiness with insignificant gifts" [Friedrich Nietzsche Human, All Too Human]
"Some are born great, some achieve greatness, and some have greatness thrust upon 'em" [William Shakespeare Twelfth Night]
"Few great men could pass Personnel" [Paul Goodman Growing Up Absurd]
Collins Thesaurus of the English Language – Complete and Unabridged 2nd Edition. 2002 © HarperCollins Publishers 1995, 2002
greatness
noun1. The quality or state of being large in amount, extent, or importance:
The American Heritage® Roget's Thesaurus. Copyright © 2013, 2014 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.
Translations
عَظَمَه
velikost
storhed
mikilleiki; mikilvægi
veličina
Collins Spanish Dictionary - Complete and Unabridged 8th Edition 2005 © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1971, 1988 © HarperCollins Publishers 1992, 1993, 1996, 1997, 2000, 2003, 2005
greatness
[ˈgreɪtnɪs] n [person] → grandeur fGreat Plains nplthe Great Plains → les Grandes Plaines fplgreat-uncle [ˌgreɪtˈʌŋkəl] n → grand-oncle mGreat Wall of China n
the Great Wall of China → la Grande Muraille de Chine
Collins English/French Electronic Resource. © HarperCollins Publishers 2005
greatness
n → Größe f; (of size, height, degree etc also) → Ausmaß nt; (= importance also) → Bedeutung f; greatness of heart → Hochherzigkeit f, → Großmut f; greatness of mind → Geistesgröße f
Collins German Dictionary – Complete and Unabridged 7th Edition 2005. © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1980 © HarperCollins Publishers 1991, 1997, 1999, 2004, 2005, 2007
Collins Italian Dictionary 1st Edition © HarperCollins Publishers 1995
great
(greit) adjective1. of a better quality than average; important. a great writer; Churchill was a great man.
2. very large, larger etc than average. a great crowd of people at the football match.
3. of a high degree. Take great care of that book.
4. very pleasant. We had a great time at the party.
5. clever and expert. John's great at football.
ˈgreatly adverbI was greatly impressed by her singing.
ˈgreatness nounher greatness as an athlete.
Kernerman English Multilingual Dictionary © 2006-2013 K Dictionaries Ltd.