much
Americanadjective
noun
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a great quantity, measure, or degree.
Much of his research was unreliable.
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a great, important, or notable thing or matter.
The house is not much to look at.
adverb
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to a great extent or degree; greatly; far.
to talk too much; much heavier.
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nearly, approximately, or about.
This is much like the others.
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Slang. (used after an adjective, noun, or verb to form a question that comments on someone’s intense feelings or extreme actions in a way that is critical, sarcastic, teasing, etc.): Geeking out much?
Jealous much?
Geeking out much?
idioms
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not so much, not.
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much as,
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almost the same as.
We need exercise, much as we need nourishment.
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however much.
Much as she wanted to stay at the party, she had to leave.
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too much,
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His band is too much, especially live in concert.
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overwhelming or intolerable.
His memories of the life they had together were just too much.
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She's too much—but so hilarious!
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make much of,
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to treat, represent, or consider as of great importance.
to make much of trivial matters.
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to treat with great consideration; show fondness for; flatter.
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determiner
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(usually used with a negative) a great quantity or degree of
there isn't much honey left
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( as pronoun )
much has been learned from this
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informal rather excessive
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exactly that
I suspected as much when I heard
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See make of
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not to any appreciable degree or extent
he's not much of an actor really
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informal of a low standard
this beer is not up to much
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(used with a negative) to have a high opinion of
I don't think much of his behaviour
adverb
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considerably
they're much better now
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practically; nearly (esp in the phrase much the same )
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(usually used with a negative) often; a great deal
it doesn't happen much in this country
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even though; although
much as I'd like to, I can't come
adjective
Etymology
Origin of much
First recorded in 1150–1200; Middle English muche, moche, shortened variant of muchel, mochel, Old English mycel; replacing Middle English miche(l), Old English micel “great, much” ( mickle ), cognate with Old Norse mikill, Gothic mikils, Greek mégal-, expanded stem of mégas “great”
Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
For many, the disparity between the haves and have-nots right there, on your phone, was too much to be ignored, in a country where youth unemployment stands at 20.6% and with three million working overseas.
From BBC
"We made a lot of passes that we needed to do to survive without much intention to attack," said Guardiola.
From BBC
“Implications of this war could be wide because oil is a feedstock for so much of the global economy,” said Edward Fishman, director of the Center for Geoeconomic Studies at the Council on Foreign Relations.
“I’m not so much worried about myself, but I’m worried about a lot of our volunteers that come out,” said Cordero.
From Los Angeles Times
He says it is still unclear how much the attacks by the US and Israel last year damaged some of Iran's military capabilities.
From BBC
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
