different between great vs free

great

English

Etymology

From Middle English greet (great, large), from Old English gr?at (big, thick, coarse, massive), from Proto-Germanic *grautaz (big in size, coarse, coarse grained), from Proto-Indo-European *g?rewd-, *g?er- (to rub, grind, remove). Cognate with Scots great (coarse in grain or texture, thick, great), West Frisian grut (large, great), Dutch groot (large, stour), German groß (large), Old English gr?ot (earth, sand, grit). Related to grit.

Pronunciation

  • enPR: gr?t, IPA(key): /??e?t/
  • Rhymes: -e?t
  • Homophone: grate

Adjective

great (comparative greater, superlative greatest)

  1. Relatively large in scale, size, extent, number (i.e. having many parts or members) or duration (i.e. relatively long); very big.
  2. Of larger size or more importance than others of its kind.
    • So the King made Daniel a great man […]
  3. (qualifying nouns of family relationship) Involving more generations than the qualified word implies — as many extra generations as repetitions of the word great (from 1510s). [see Derived terms]
  4. (obsolete, postpositive, followed by 'with') Pregnant; large with young; full of.
    • the ewes great with young
  5. (obsolete, except with 'friend' and similar words such as 'mate','buddy') Intimate; familiar.
    • 1625, Francis Bacon, Of Followers and Friends
      those that are so great with him
  6. Extreme or more than usual.
  7. Of significant importance or consequence; important.
    • “We are engaged in a great work, a treatise on our river fortifications, perhaps? But since when did army officers afford the luxury of amanuenses in this simple republic?”
  8. (applied to actions, thoughts and feelings) Arising from or possessing idealism; admirable; superior; commanding; heroic; illustrious; eminent.
  9. Impressive or striking.
  10. Much in use; favoured.
  11. (applied to persons) Endowed with extraordinary powers; of exceptional talents or achievements; uncommonly gifted; able to accomplish vast results; remarkable; strong; powerful; mighty; noble.
  12. Title referring to an important leader.
  13. Doing or exemplifying (a characteristic or pursuit) on a large scale; active or enthusiastic.
  14. (often followed by 'at') Skilful or adroit.
  15. (informal) Very good; excellent; wonderful; fantastic. [from 1848]
  16. (informal, Britain) Intensifying a word or expression, used in mild oaths.

Usage notes

Moderating adverbs such as fairly, somewhat, etc. tend not to be used with great. Some intensifiers can be used with some senses of great; for example, a very great amount, a very great man, the party was really great, though not *the party was very great.

Synonyms

  • See also Thesaurus:large
  • See also Thesaurus:excellent
  • gr8, grt (Internet slang, text messaging)

Antonyms

  • (very big, large scale): tiny
  • (uncommonly gifted): mediocre, ordinary

Derived terms

Descendants

  • ? Welsh: grêt

Translations

Interjection

great

  1. Expression of gladness and content about something.
    Great! Thanks for the wonderful work.
    • 2016, VOA Learning English (public domain)
      I am in my new apartment! Great!
  2. sarcastic inversion thereof.
    Oh, great! I just dumped all 500 sheets of the manuscript all over and now I have to put them back in order.

Translations

Noun

great (plural greats)

  1. A person of major significance, accomplishment or acclaim.
    Newton and Einstein are two of the greats of the history of science.
    • 2019, Daniel Taylor, Lionel Messi magic puts Barcelona in command of semi-final with Liverpool (in The Guardian, 1 May 2019)[3]
      Sadio Mané wasted a glorious chance in the first half and, late on, Mohamed Salah turned his shot against a post after a goal-line clearance had spun his way. That, in a nutshell, perhaps sums up the difference between Messi and the players on the next rung below – the ones who can be described as great footballers without necessarily being football greats.
  2. (music) The main division in a pipe organ, usually the loudest division.
  3. (in combinations such as "two-greats", "three-greats" etc.) An instance of the word "great" signifying an additional generation in phrases expressing family relationships.
    My three-greats grandmother.

Antonyms

  • (person of major significance, accomplishment or acclaim): mediocre

Translations

Adverb

great (not comparable)

  1. (informal) Very well (in a very satisfactory manner).
    Those mechanical colored pencils work great because they don't have to be sharpened.

Translations

Anagrams

  • 'Gater, Gater, Greta, ergat-, grate, retag, targe, terga

Old English

Etymology

From Proto-Germanic *grautaz (big in size, coarse, coarse grained), from Proto-Indo-European *ghrew?- (to fell, put down, fall in). Cognate with Old Saxon gr?t (large, thick, coarse, stour), Old High German gr?z (large, thick, coarse), Old English grot (particle). More at groat.

Pronunciation

  • IPA(key): /?ræ???t/

Adjective

gr?at

  1. great, massive
  2. tall
  3. thick; stout
  4. coarse

Declension

Derived terms

  • gr?atnes

Descendants

  • Middle English: greet, grete
    • English: great
      • ? Welsh: grêt
    • Scots: great, greet, grete, greit

Scots

Alternative forms

  • greet, grete, greit

Etymology

From Old English gr?at, from Proto-Germanic *grautaz.

Pronunciation

  • IPA(key): [?r?t], [?r?t]
  • (North Northern Scots) IPA(key): [?rit]

Adjective

great (comparative greater, superlative greatest)

  1. great
  2. coarse (in grain or texture)
  3. (of things) thick, bulky, roomy
  4. (of people) big, stout
  5. (of a river) swollen with rain, in flood
  6. (of the sea) high, stormy
  7. intimate, friendly

great From the web:

  • what great teachers do differently
  • what great lake is in chicago
  • what great principals do differently
  • what great grandma ate
  • what greatly increases the capacity of the stomach
  • what greater love than this
  • what great white sharks eat
  • what great lake is the deepest


free

English

Etymology

From Middle English free, fre, freo, from Old English fr?o (free), from Proto-West Germanic *fr?, from Proto-Germanic *frijaz (beloved, not in bondage), from Proto-Indo-European *priHós (dear, beloved), from *preyH- (to love, please). Related to friend. Cognate with West Frisian frij (free), Dutch vrij (free), Low German free (free), German frei (free), Danish, Swedish and Norwegian fri (free), Sanskrit ????? (priyá).

Germanic and Celtic are the only Indo-European language branches in which the PIE word with the meaning of "dear, beloved" acquired the additional meaning of "free" in the sense of "not in bondage". This was an extension of the idea of "characteristic of those who are dear and beloved", in other words friends and tribe members (in contrast to unfree inhabitants from other tribes and prisoners of war, many of which were among the slaves – compare the Latin use of liberi to mean both "free persons" and "children of a family").

The verb comes from Middle English freen, freo?en, from Old English fr?on, fr?o?an (to free; make free), from Proto-West Germanic *frij?n, from Proto-Germanic *frij?n?, from Proto-Indo-European *preyH-.

Pronunciation

  • enPR: fr?, IPA(key): /f?i?/, [f??i?]
  • Rhymes: -i?
  • Homophone: three (with th-fronting)

Adjective

free (comparative freer, superlative freest)

  1. (social) Unconstrained.
    • 1610-11?, Shakespeare, The Tempest, Act V, scene i:
      Quickly, spirit! / Thou shalt ere long be free.
    Synonyms: unconstrained, unfettered, unhindered
    Antonyms: constrained, restricted
    1. Not imprisoned or enslaved.
      Antonyms: bound, enslaved, imprisoned
    2. Unconstrained by timidity or distrust
      Synonyms: unreserved, frank, communicative
    3. Generous; liberal.
    4. (obsolete) Clear of offence or crime; guiltless; innocent.
    5. Without obligations.
    6. Thrown open, or made accessible, to all; to be enjoyed without limitations; unrestricted; not obstructed, engrossed, or appropriated; open; said of a thing to be possessed or enjoyed.
    7. Not arbitrary or despotic; assuring liberty; defending individual rights against encroachment by any person or class; instituted by a free people; said of a government, institutions, etc.
    8. (software) With no or only freedom-preserving limitations on distribution or modification.
      Synonym: libre
      Antonym: proprietary
    9. (software) Intended for release, as opposed to a checked version.
  2. Obtainable without any payment.
    Synonyms: free of charge, gratis
    1. (by extension, chiefly advertising slang) complimentary
  3. (abstract) Unconstrained.
    1. (mathematics) Unconstrained by relators.
    2. (mathematics, logic) Unconstrained by quantifiers.
      Antonym: bound
    3. (programming) Unconstrained of identifiers, not bound.
      Synonym: unbound
      Antonym: bound
    4. (linguistics) (of a morpheme) That can be used by itself, unattached to another morpheme.
  4. (physical) Unconstrained.
    1. Unobstructed, without blockages.
      Synonyms: clear, unobstructed
      Antonyms: blocked, obstructed
    2. Unattached or uncombined.
      Synonyms: loose, unfastened; see also Thesaurus:loose
    3. Not currently in use; not taken; unoccupied.
    4. (botany, mycology) Not attached; loose.
  5. Without; not containing (what is specified); exempt; clear; liberated.
    Synonym: without
  6. (dated) Ready; eager; acting without spurring or whipping; spirited.
  7. (dated) Invested with a particular freedom or franchise; enjoying certain immunities or privileges; admitted to special rights; followed by of.
  8. (Britain, law, obsolete) Certain or honourable; the opposite of base.
    (Can we find and add a quotation of Burrill to this entry?)
  9. (law) Privileged or individual; the opposite of common.
    (Can we find and add a quotation of Burrill to this entry?)

Antonyms

  • unfree

Hyponyms

  • -free

Derived terms

Related terms

Translations

Adverb

free (comparative more free, superlative most free)

  1. Without needing to pay.
    Synonyms: for free, for nothing
  2. (obsolete) Freely; willingly.

Translations

Verb

free (third-person singular simple present frees, present participle freeing, simple past and past participle freed)

  1. (transitive) To make free; set at liberty; release.
  2. (transitive) To rid of something that confines or oppresses.
    • 1885, Richard F. Burton, The Book of the Thousand Nights and a Night, Night 564:
      Then I walked about, till I found on the further side, a great river of sweet water, running with a strong current; whereupon I called to mind the boat-raft I had made aforetime and said to myself, "Needs must I make another; haply I may free me from this strait. If I escape, I have my desire and I vow to Allah Almighty to forswear travel; and if I perish I shall be at peace and shall rest from toil and moil."

Derived terms

  • befree

Synonyms

  • befree
  • emancipate
  • let loose
  • liberate
  • manumit
  • release
  • unchain
  • unfetter
  • unshackle

Translations

Noun

free (plural frees)

  1. (Australian rules football, Gaelic football) Abbreviation of free kick.
    • 2006, [1]:
      Whether deserved or not, the free gave Cresswell the chance to cover himself in glory with a shot on goal after the siren.
  2. free transfer
  3. (hurling) The usual means of restarting play after a foul is committed, where the non-offending team restarts from where the foul was committed.
  4. (swimming) the freestyle stroke

Translations

References

Anagrams

  • feer, fere, reef

Galician

Verb

free

  1. first-person singular present subjunctive of frear
  2. third-person singular present subjunctive of frear

Low German

Alternative forms

  • frie (more common)

Etymology

From Middle Low German vrîe, variant of vrî, from Old Saxon fr?, from Proto-Germanic *frijaz, from Proto-Indo-European *prey (new). Compare Dutch vrij, West Frisian frij, English free, German frei.

Adjective

free (comparative fre'er, superlative freest)

  1. (rather rare) free

Declension

Derived terms

  • Freeheit

free From the web:

  • what freedoms are protected by the first amendment
  • what freedoms do americans have
  • what freed the slaves
  • what free channels are on roku
  • what freedom means to me
  • what free games can i play
  • what freezes faster
  • what freeways are closed
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