tall
adjective /tɔːl/
/tɔːl/
(comparative taller, superlative tallest)
Idioms - She's tall and thin.
- the tallest building in the world
- tall trees/chimneys
- a tall glass of iced tea
- He's grown taller since I last saw him.
Oxford Collocations Dictionaryverbs- be
- look
- seem
- …
- extremely
- fairly
- very
- …
- How tall are you?
- He's six feet tall and weighs 200 pounds.
Which Word? high / tallhigh / tall- High is used to talk about the measurement from the bottom to the top of something:
- The fence is over five metres high.
- He has climbed some of the world’s highest mountains.
- How high was the plane when the engine failed?
- Tall is used instead of high to talk about people:
- My brother’s much taller than me.
- She ordered cold beer in a tall glass.
- tall factory chimneys.
- Tall pine trees line the roadways.
Word Originlate Middle English: probably from Old English getæl ‘swift, prompt’. Early senses also included ‘fine, handsome’ and ‘bold, strong, good at fighting’.
Idioms
be a tall order
- (informal) to be very difficult to do
great/tall oaks from little acorns grow
- (saying) something large and successful often begins in a very small wayTopics Successc2
stand tall
- (especially North American English) to show that you are proud and able to deal with anything
- Suddenly he seemed to stand taller.
walk tall
- to feel proud and confidentTopics Feelingsc2, Personal qualitiesc2