massadjective [ before noun ]
uk/mæs/us/mæs/C1 having an effect on or involving a large number of people or forming a large amount:
More examples
- During times of mass unemployment, there's a pool of cheap labour for employers to draw from.
- There were mass deportations in the 1930s, when thousands of people were forced to leave the country.
- There have been mass desertions from the party in recent months.
- There has been a mass exodus of workers from the villages to the towns.
- The regime tried to silence dissent with a programme of mass murder.
Thesaurus: synonyms and related words
Big and quite big
- appreciable
- baronial
- burly
- capacious
- commodious
- fair
- grand
- heavy
- juicy
- L, l
- large-scale
- largish
- macro
- side
- spacious
- supersize
- swamp
- sweeping
- the bigger the better idiom
- walk-in
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massnoun
uk/mæs/us/mæs/mass noun (LARGE AMOUNT)
B2 [ S ] a large amount of something that has no particular shape or arrangement:
B2 a lot:
most of something:
More examples
- Her daughter's hair is a mass of wonderful red corkscrew curls.
- She was disappointed to see her essay returned with a mass of corrections in red ink.
- The liquid suddenly solidifies into a gelatinous mass.
- Short-grain rice turns into a soft glutinous mass when cooked.
- A seething mass of children crowded around the tables.
Thesaurus: synonyms and related words
Masses and large amounts of things
- accumulation
- an embarrassment of riches idiom
- any number of things idiom
- backlog
- battery
- boatload
- bolus
- clot
- deluge
- fund
- lashing
- lather
- outpouring
- panoply
- plethora
- predominance
- preponderance
- shower
- sight
- thousand
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mass noun (SOLID LUMP)
[ C ] a solid lump with no clear shape:
Thesaurus: synonyms and related words
Masses and large amounts of things
- accumulation
- an embarrassment of riches idiom
- any number of things idiom
- backlog
- battery
- boatload
- bolus
- clot
- deluge
- fund
- lashing
- lather
- outpouring
- panoply
- plethora
- predominance
- preponderance
- shower
- sight
- thousand
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mass noun (ORDINARY PEOPLE)
the ordinary people who form the largest group in a society:
Thesaurus: synonyms and related words
Ordinary people
- community
- Essex girl
- folk
- grassroots
- Jane Doe
- Joe Bloggs
- mass market
- Middle America
- mortal
- multitude
- omnibus
- on the ground idiom
- popular
- popularly
- ruck
- street
- the common man idiom
- the general public
- the hoi polloi
- the man/woman in the street idiom
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mass noun (PHYSICS)
[ C ] specialized physics the amount of matter in any solid object or in any volume of liquid or gas:
the total number of protons and neutrons in an atom
the difference between the mass of a nucleus (= central part of an atom) and the mass of the separate pieces that make up the nucleus
Thesaurus: synonyms and related words
Mass, area, weight & volume in general
- A2
- A3
- A4
- A5
- area
- ballast
- dead weight
- density
- displacement
- legal
- letter
- specific gravity
- sq
- square
- tare
- volume
- weight
mass noun (RELIGIOUS CEREMONY )
[ C or U ] also Mass a religious ceremony in some Christian Churches based on Jesus' last meal with his disciples, or music written for parts of this ceremony:
Thesaurus: synonyms and related words
Musical pieces
- arrangement
- bolero
- bossa nova
- Britannia
- cantata
- chorus
- fantasia
- melody
- nocturne
- octet
- opus
- passage
- playlist
- reel
- sextet
- signature tune
- solo
- song form
- string quartet
- trio
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massverb [ I ]
uk/mæs/us/mæs/to come together in large numbers:
Thesaurus: synonyms and related words
Meeting people
- appointment
- conclave
- cross
- cross sb's path/cross paths with sb idiom
- deal
- gathering
- hello
- hook
- hook up
- how are things (with you)? idiom
- how do you do? idiom
- it's a date idiom
- known
- massed
- meet
- meeting point
- muster point
- remember sb to sb
- run across sb
- tryst
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