tall
Americanadjective
-
having a relatively great height; of more than average stature: tall grass.
a tall woman;
tall grass.
- Antonyms:
- short
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having stature or height as specified.
a man six feet tall.
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large in amount or degree; considerable.
a tall price;
Swinging that deal is a tall order.
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extravagant; difficult to believe.
a tall tale.
-
He engages in so much tall talk, one never really knows what he's saying.
-
having more than usual length; long and relatively narrow.
He carried a tall walking stick.
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(of a drink) consisting of liquor mixed with other ingredients and served in a large glass, as a cocktail.
We watched as he put together a Mamie Taylor, a tall drink with Scotch, ginger beer, and lime.
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Tall, (of beverages at Starbucks coffee shops) being of a small size equal to 12 ounces (354 milliliters).
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Archaic. valiant.
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Obsolete.
-
seemly; proper.
-
fine; handsome.
-
adverb
noun
adjective
-
of more than average height
-
-
(postpositive) having a specified height
a woman five feet tall
-
( in combination )
a twenty-foot-tall partition
-
-
informal exaggerated or incredible
a tall story
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informal difficult to accomplish
a tall order
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an archaic word for excellent
Related Words
See high.
Other Word Forms
- tallness noun
Etymology
Origin of tall
First recorded before 1000; Middle English: “big, bold, comely, proper, ready,” Old English getæl (plural getale ) “quick, ready, competent”; cognate with Old High German gizal “quick”
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.
From a distance, the tall grass made the terrain look smooth, but it was anything but: full of rocks and roots and tiny coarse bushes grabbing at your feet.
Their waiter Amir, who preferred not to share his last name, ferried packed peach-and-pineapple hookahs and tall glasses of pressed watermelon juice from the cafe’s kitchen to the table.
From Los Angeles Times
In Dubai, the Middle East's commercial hub with the world's tallest building, the Burj Khalifa, residents looked up to see missiles surge through the sky.
From Barron's
Train tracks are spaced unevenly, and it would be hard to build very tall properties.
Far away, its parents, towering more than 40 feet tall, continue their lives with no direct involvement in the youngster's daily survival.
From Science Daily
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.
