gross
/ɡɹoʊs/
Word Rarity
Uncommon
Frequency: 4.45 in modern English
6
Scrabble Score
5
Letters
1
Syllables
4
Unique Chars
Meaning
adj
remarkably great, big, vast in an often unpleasant way; (of behaviour) Highly or conspicuously offensive.
adj
adj
Seen without a microscope (usually for a tissue or an organ); at a large scale; not detailed.
adj
Lacking refinement; not of high quality.
Example Sentences
- "a gross mistake; gross injustice; gross negligence; a gross insult"
- "Henry IV. My gracious uncle, let me know my fault: / On what condition stands it and wherein? / Edmund of Langley. Even in condition of the worst degree, / In gross rebellion and detested treason:"
- "Your very faults, how gross soere, to me / Have something pleasing in ’em."
- "[…] I thank Heaven I have had Time to reflect on my past Life, where though I cannot charge myself with any gross Villainy, yet I can discern Follies and Vices too sufficient to repent and to be ashamed of;"
- "[H]ad his actions been what Wickham represented them, so gross a violation of every thing right could hardly have been concealed from the world; […]"
- "[H]e has been found guilty, on the clearest evidence, first, of stealing a valuable motor-car; secondly, of driving to the public danger; and, thirdly, of gross impertinence to the rural police."
Etymology
From Middle English gros (“large, thick, full-bodied; coarse, unrefined, simple”), from Old French gros, from Latin grossus (“big, fat, thick”, in Late Latin also “coarse, rough”), of uncertain further origin but perhaps related to Proto-Celtic *brassos (“great, violent”).
Origin
Word Breakdown
Regional Pronunciation
- American English: /ɡɹoʊs/
- British English: /ɡɹəʊs/
Usage
Inflected Forms
grosser (comparative)
more gross (comparative)
grossest (superlative)
most gross (superlative)
grosses (plural)
grosses (present, singular)
grossing (participle, present)
grossed (participle, past)
grossed (past)