most
pronunciation
How to pronounce most in British English:
UK [məʊst]
How to pronounce most in American English:
US [moʊst]
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- Adjective:
- (superlative of `many' used with count nouns and often preceded by `the') quantifier meaning the greatest in number
- the superlative of `much' that can be used with mass nouns and is usually preceded by `the'; a quantifier meaning the greatest in amount or extent or degree
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- Adverb:
- used to form the superlative
- very
- (of actions or states) slightly short of or not quite accomplished; `near' is sometimes used informally for `nearly' and `most' is sometimes used informally for `almost'
Word Origin
- most
- most: [OE] Like more, most comes ultimately from prehistoric Germanic *maiz. Addition of the superlative suffix produced *maistaz, which passed into Old English as mǣst. This subsequently evolved to most in Middle English under the influence of more.=> magnitude, master, more
- most (adj.)
- Old English mast "greatest number, amount, extent," earlier mæst, from Proto-Germanic *maistaz (cognates: Old Saxon mest, Old Frisian mast, Old Norse mestr, Dutch meest, German meist, Gothic maists "most"), superlative form of Proto-Germanic *maiz, root of Old English ma, mara (see more). Used in Old English as superlative of micel "great, large" (see mickle). Vowel influenced by more. Original sense of "greatest" survives in phrase for the most part (c. 1400). Slang meaning "the best, extremely good" is attested from 1953. Also used as an adverb in Old English. Phrase make the most of (something) is by 1520s. Related: Mostly. Double superlative mostest is 1885, from U.S. Southern and Black English.
Example
- 1. Branson obviously has the most style .
- 2. That isn 't the typical dna at most large airlines .
- 3. Most people will say you 're crazy .
- 4. Most tax revenue in china goes to the central government .
- 5. What technology sector excites you most ?