much
/mʌt͡ʃ/ determiner, adjective, adverb, pronoun, proper noun
- determiner A large amount of. “Do you think I have much chance of catching the train on time?”
- determiner (in combinations such as 'as much', 'this much') Used to indicate, demonstrate or compare the quantity of something. “Add this much water and no more.”
- determiner (now archaic or nonstandard) A great number of; many (people).
- determiner (now Caribbean, African-American, UK regional) many ( + plural countable noun).
- adjective (obsolete) Large, great.
- adjective (obsolete) Long in duration.
- adverb To a great extent. “I don't like melon much, and I don’t much care for milk chocolate either: I find them both much too sweet.”
- adverb (with a comparative adjective) for emphasis or to indicate a great difference “He is much fatter than I remember him.”
- adverb Often; frequently. “Does he get drunk much?”
- adverb (in combinations such as 'as much', 'this much') Used to indicate or compare extent. “I don't like Wagner as much as I like Mozart.”
- adverb (slang) Combining with an adjective or (occasionally) a noun, used in a rhetorical question to mock someone for having the specified quality. “Jamie's always preaching about how we need to save a planet when she drives literally everywhere she goes. Like, hypocritical much?”
- adverb (obsolete) Almost.
- pronoun A large amount or great extent; a lot. “I don't have much to do.”
- proper noun A surname from German.
Synonyms
a great deal of a lot of a great deal a lot greatly highly loads plenty very much lots a good deal practically often
Antonyms
Etymology
From Middle English muche (“much, great”), apocopated variant of muchel (“much, great”), from Old English myċel, miċel (“big, much”), from Proto-West Germanic *mikil, from Proto-Germanic *mikilaz (“great, many, much”), from Proto-Indo-European *meǵh₂- (“big, stour, great”). See also mickle, muckle.
Cognate with Scots mickle, mukill, mekil, mikil (“big, large, great, much”), Middle Dutch mēkel (“great, many, much”), Middle High German michel ("great, many, much"; > German michel (“great, big, large”)), Norwegian Bokmål mye (“much”), Norwegian Nynorsk mykje (“much”), Swedish mycket (“much”), Danish meget (“much”), Gothic 𐌼𐌹𐌺𐌹𐌻𐍃 (mikils, “great, many”), Ancient Greek μέγας (mégas, “large, great”), Modern Greek μεγάλος (megálos, “large, great”).
Note that English much is not related to Spanish mucho, and their resemblance in both form and meaning is purely coincidental, as mucho derives from Latin multus and is not related to the Germanic forms. Instead, related to Spanish maño.
Webster’s 1913
- adjective Great in quantity; long in duration; as, much rain has fallen; much time.
- adjective Many in number. [Archaic]
- noun A great quantity; a great deal; also, an indefinite quantity; as, you have as much as I. He that gathered much had nothing over. Ex. xvi. 18.
- noun A thing uncommon, wonderful, or noticeable; something considerable.
Etymology [OE. moche, muche, miche, prob. the same as mochel, muchel, michel, mikel, fr. AS. micel, mycel; cf. Gr. mjök, adv., much. *103. See Mickle.]
Etymology [Cf. Icel. mjök. See Much, a.]
Sources: Wiktionary · WordNet 3.0 · Webster’s 1913 — from the Wiktionary entry “much”, CC BY-SA 4.0. Details