greatness

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great

(grāt)

adj. great·er, great·est

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.

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.

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.”

ThesaurusAntonymsRelated WordsSynonymsLegend:

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Noun	1.	greatness - the property possessed by something or someone of outstanding importance or eminence illustriousness 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 immenseness, immensity, sizeableness, vastness, enormousness, grandness, wideness bigness, largeness - the property of having a relatively great size 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"

greatness

noun

1. grandeur, glory, majesty, splendour, power, pomp, magnificence the greatness of ancient Rome

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]

Collins Thesaurus of the English Language – Complete and Unabridged 2nd Edition. 2002 © HarperCollins Publishers 1995, 2002

greatness

noun

1. The quality or state of being large in amount, extent, or importance:

amplitude, bigness, largeness, magnitude, sizableness, size.

2. Something meriting the highest praise or regard:

glory, grandeur, grandiosity, grandness, majesty, splendor.

Translations

عَظَمَه

velikost

storhed

mikilleiki; mikilvægi

veličina

greatness

[ˈgreɪtnɪs] N → grandeza f
he was destined for greatness → su destino era grande

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 npl
the Great Plains → les Grandes Plaines fplgreat-uncle [ˌgreɪtˈʌŋk^əl] 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

greatness

[ˈgreɪtnɪs] n → grandezza

Collins Italian Dictionary 1st Edition © HarperCollins Publishers 1995

great

(greit) adjective

1. 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 adverb

I was greatly impressed by her singing.

ˈgreatness noun

her greatness as an athlete.

References in classic literature ?

Had he lived, had there been other fleets left to oppose him, we would, perhaps, have learned something more of his greatness as a sea officer.

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He, however, who is of my nature doth not avoid such an hour: the hour that saith unto him: Now only dost thou go the way to thy greatness! Summit and abyss--these are now comprised together!

Thou goest the way to thy greatness: now hath it become thy last refuge, what was hitherto thy last danger!

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It has been well said that greatness is but another name for interpretation; and in so far as these nameless workmen of old interpreted themselves and the times in which they lived, they have attained enduring greatness.

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Yet now few will be found to deny his greatness. I do not speak of that greatness which is achieved by the fortunate politician or the successful soldier; that is a quality which belongs to the place he occupies rather than to the man; and a change of circumstances reduces it to very discreet proportions.

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Still, if the courage of Agathocles in entering into and extricating himself from dangers be considered, together with his greatness of mind in enduring and overcoming hardships, it cannot be seen why he should be esteemed less than the most notable captain.

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This day the horrible appearance of the battlefield overcame that strength of mind which he thought constituted his merit and his greatness. He rode hurriedly from the battlefield and returned to the Shevardino knoll, where he sat on his campstool, his sallow face swollen and heavy, his eyes dim, his nose red, and his voice hoarse, involuntarily listening, with downcast eyes, to the sounds of firing.

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But I like all the books of Galdos that I have read, and though he seems to have worked more tardily out of his romanticism than Valdes, since be has worked finally into such realism as that of Leon Roch, his greatness leaves nothing to be desired.

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But although that may have been some comfort to Bacon, it did not win for him greatness in the eyes of the world, the only greatness for which he longed.

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Shakspere's greatness rests on supreme achievement--the result of the highest genius matured by experience and by careful experiment and labor--in all phases of the work of a poetic dramatist.

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There seems to be no interval between greatness and meanness.

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(much too high for a heathen), It is true greatness, to have in one the frailty of a man, and the security of a God.