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most

det
/ˈməʊst/UK/ˈmoʊst/US/ˈmoːst/CA

Etymology

Etymology tree Proto-Indo-European *meh₂-der. Proto-Germanic *maiz Proto-Germanic *maistaz Proto-Germanic *maist Proto-West Germanic *maist Old English mǣst Middle English English most From Middle English most, moste, from Old English mǣst, māst, from Proto-Germanic *maistaz, *maist. Cognate with Scots mast, maist (“most”), Saterland Frisian maast (“most”), West Frisian meast (“most”), Dutch meest (“most”), German meist (“most”), Danish and Swedish mest (“most”), Icelandic mestur (“most”).

  1. inherited from *maistaz✻
  2. inherited from mǣst
  3. inherited from most

Definitions

  1. superlative degree of much.

    • The teams competed to see who could collect (the) most money.
    • I spent most time in Rome because most of Venice is flooded.

  2. superlative degree of many

    superlative degree of many: the comparatively largest number of (construed with the definite article)

    • The team with the most points wins.

  3. Forms the superlative of many adjectives.

    • This is the most important example.
    • Correctness is most important.
    • Much the most common verb in complex-intransitive clauses is be.
  4. ›+ 8 more definitions

    1. To a great extent or degree

      To a great extent or degree; highly; very.

      • This is a most unusual specimen.
      • Most cruel edict! Sure, thy generous soul, Septimius, abhors the dreadful task of persecution.
      • A noble craft, but somehow a most melancholy!

    2. superlative degree of much

      • Economics is a messy discipline: too fluid to be a science, too rigorous to be an art. Perhaps it is fitting that economists’ most-used metric, gross domestic product (GDP), is a tangle too.

    3. The greatest

      The greatest; the best.

      • PATTY:They announced this year's nominees for student council. And guess who's up for vice-president? Me! Isn't that the most to say the least?

    4. The greater part of a group, especially a group of people.

      • Most want the best for their children.
      • The peach was juicier and more flavourful than most.

    5. The greatest amount.

      • The most I can offer for the house is $150,000.

    6. The greater part.

      • Most of the penguins were friendly and curious.
      • Most of the rice was spoiled.

    7. A record-setting amount.

      • Along with their massive size will come other “mosts”: they will likely be the longest living, the best educated, the wealthiest and the most wired/ wireless.
      • The record of Elvis' achievement is truly remarkable; his list of “firsts” and “mosts” is probably without parallel in music and entertainment history.

    8. Almost.

      • A well-daiquiried redhead eyed him from across the room at Jilly's one night in 1963 — although it could have been most any night ever […]
      • "We walked there most every day after school."
      • “Can't be all that bad if Luke likes it. Most everywhere has air-conditioning, he says.”

The neighborhood

Derived

aldermost, at most, at the most, at the very most, backmost, empty barrels make the most noise, empty cans make the most noise, empty vessels make the most noise, empty vessels make the most sound, foremost, for the most part, frontmost, hindmost, host with the most, innermost, lookers-on see most of the game, make the most of, -most, most an end, most favored nation, most favoured nation, most like, mostly, most muscular, mostness, most of all, most of the time, most-perfect magic square, most Rikki-Tik, most significant bit, most significant byte, most valuable player, most vexing parse, most wanted, mostwhat, one-size-fits-most, outermost, rearmost, second most, The Most Reverend · +1 more

Vish — recursive loop

No curated loop yet for most. Loops are being traced one word at a time while the ingestion pipeline matures.

sense glosses and etymology drawn from English Wiktionary · source · CC-BY-SA