major

major

synonyms, antonyms, definitions, examples & translations of major in English

English Online Dictionary. What means major‎? What does major mean?

English

Alternative forms

  • majour (obsolete)

Etymology

From Middle English major, from Latin maior, comparative of magnus (“great, large; noble, important”), from Proto-Indo-European *méǵh₂yōs (“greater”), comparative of *meǵh₂- (“great”). Compare West Frisian majoar (“major”), Dutch majoor (“major”), French majeur. Doublet of mayor.

Pronunciation

  • enPR: mā'jə(r)
  • IPA(key): /ˈmeɪ.d͡ʒə(ɹ)/
    • (US) IPA(key): [ˈmeɪ̯d͡ʒɚ(ɹ)]
    • (Received Pronunciation) IPA(key): [ˈmeɪ̯d͡ʒə(ɹ)]
    • (Canada) IPA(key): [ˈmeːd͡ʒɚ(ɹ)]
    • (General Australian) IPA(key): [ˈmæɪ̯d͡ʒə(ɹ)]
    • (Standard Southern British) IPA(key): [ˈmɛjd͡ʒə(ɹ)]
  • Rhymes: -eɪdʒə(ɹ)

Adjective

major (comparative more major, superlative most major)

  1. (attributive):
    1. Greater in dignity, rank, importance, significance, or interest.
    2. Greater in number, quantity, or extent.
      Synonym: main
    3. Notable or conspicuous in effect or scope.
      Synonym: considerable
    4. Prominent or significant in size, amount, or degree.
    5. (medicine) Involving great risk, serious, life-threatening.
  2. Of full legal age, having attained majority.
  3. (education) Of or relating to a subject of academic study chosen as a field of specialization.
  4. (music):
    1. Having intervals of a semitone between the third and fourth, and seventh and eighth degrees. (of a scale)
    2. Equivalent to that between the tonic and another note of a major scale, and greater by a semitone than the corresponding minor interval. (of an interval)
      1. Having a major third above the root.
    3. (postpositive) (of a key) Based on a major scale, tending to produce a bright or joyful effect.
    4. (campanology) Bell changes rung on eight bells.
  5. (UK, dated) Indicating the elder of two brothers, appended to a surname in public schools.
  6. (logic)
    1. Occurring as the predicate in the conclusion of a categorical syllogism. (of a term)
    2. Containing the major term in a categorical syllogism. (of a premise)

Antonyms

  • minor

Derived terms

Related terms

Translations

Noun

major (plural majors)

  1. (military) A rank of officer in the army and the US air force, between captain and lieutenant colonel.
    1. An officer in charge of a section of band instruments, used with a modifier.
      Meronyms: drum major, trumpet major
  2. A person of legal age.
    Antonym: minor
  3. (music):
    1. Ellipsis of major key.
    2. Ellipsis of major interval.
    3. Ellipsis of major scale.
    4. (campanology) A system of change-ringing using eight bells.
  4. A large, commercially successful company, especially a record label that is bigger than an indie.
  5. (education, Canada, US, Australia, New Zealand) The principal subject or course of a student working toward a degree at a college or university.
    Synonym: (UK) course
    1. A student at a college or university specializing on a given area of study.
  6. (logic):
    1. Ellipsis of major term.
    2. Ellipsis of major premise.
  7. (bridge) Ellipsis of major suit.
  8. (Canadian football) A touchdown, or major score.
  9. (Australian rules football) A goal.
  10. (British slang, dated) An elder brother (especially at a public school).
  11. (entomology) A large leaf-cutter ant that acts as a soldier, defending the nest.
  12. (obsolete) Alternative form of mayor and mair.

Derived terms

Translations

Verb

major (third-person singular simple present majors, present participle majoring, simple past and past participle majored)

  1. (intransitive) Used in a phrasal verb: major in.

Derived terms

  • double-major

Related terms

  • majorant

Translations

References

  • “major”, in Lexico, Dictionary.com; Oxford University Press, 2019–2022.
  • “major”, in Merriam-Webster Online Dictionary, Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster, 1996–present.

Anagrams

  • Jarmo, joram

Catalan

Etymology

Inherited from Latin maiōrem.

Pronunciation

  • IPA(key): (Central, Balearic) [məˈʒo]
  • IPA(key): (Valencia) [maˈd͡ʒoɾ]

Adjective

major m or f (masculine and feminine plural majors)

  1. larger (superlative: el major / la major—largest)
  2. older (superlative: el major / la major—oldest)
  3. main, principal
  4. (music) major

Derived terms

  • majorista
  • majorment

Related terms

  • majoria

Noun

major m (plural majors)

  1. (military) major

Noun

major m or f by sense (plural majors)

  1. someone of age, adult

Further reading

  • “major” in Diccionari de la llengua catalana, segona edició, Institut d’Estudis Catalans.
  • “major”, in Gran Diccionari de la Llengua Catalana, Grup Enciclopèdia Catalana, 2025
  • “major” in Diccionari normatiu valencià, Acadèmia Valenciana de la Llengua.
  • “major” in Diccionari català-valencià-balear, Antoni Maria Alcover and Francesc de Borja Moll, 1962.

Czech

Pronunciation

  • IPA(key): [ˈmajor]

Noun

major m anim (relational adjective majorský)

  1. major (military)

Declension

Derived terms

Further reading

  • “major”, in Příruční slovník jazyka českého (in Czech), 1935–1957
  • “major”, in Slovník spisovného jazyka českého (in Czech), 1960–1971, 1989

Estonian

Etymology

Borrowed from German Major, from Spanish, from Latin maior.

Noun

major (genitive majori, partitive majorit)

  1. major (rank)

Declension

Derived terms

  • kindralmajor

French

Etymology

From Middle French major, from Spanish mayor, from Latin maior. Doublet of maire, majeur, and mayeur. The use for a non-commissioned officer in the French army (since 1972) is a short form of adjudant-major or sergent-major.

Pronunciation

  • IPA(key): /ma.ʒɔʁ/

Noun

major m or f (plural majors) (military)

  1. (France) the highest non-commissioned officer rank: sergeant major, “major”
    Coordinate terms: (other armies) adjudant-chef, adjudant-major
  2. (North America, Belgium, Switzerland, Luxembourg) major (field officer rank)
    Coordinate terms: (French army) commandant, chef, (navies) capitaine de corvette

Derived terms

Further reading

  • “major”, in Trésor de la langue française informatisé [Digitized Treasury of the French Language], 2012.

Hungarian

Etymology

From Bavarian [Term?], compare Middle High German meier, Old High German meior, meiū̌r, standard German Meier (“administrator or leaseholder of a manor”); ultimately from Latin maior (“greater; leader”). The semantic shift from the person to the place is unclear; either via their identification, or by a clipping of a derivation like majorság, majorház, majorszoba. The German equivalent terms for the place are Meierhof and Meierei (“feudal manor”).

Pronunciation

  • IPA(key): [ˈmɒjor]
  • Hyphenation: ma‧jor
  • Rhymes: -or

Noun

major (plural majorok)

  1. farm

Declension

Derived terms

References

Further reading

  • (farm): major in Géza Bárczi, László Országh, et al., editors, A magyar nyelv értelmező szótára [The Explanatory Dictionary of the Hungarian Language] (ÉrtSz.), Budapest: Akadémiai Kiadó, 1959–1962. Fifth ed., 1992: →ISBN.
  • ([archaic] major [military rank]): major , redirecting to its synonym őrnagy in Géza Bárczi, László Országh, et al., editors, A magyar nyelv értelmező szótára [The Explanatory Dictionary of the Hungarian Language] (ÉrtSz.), Budapest: Akadémiai Kiadó, 1959–1962. Fifth ed., 1992: →ISBN.

Interlingua

Pronunciation

  • IPA(key): /maˈʒor/

Adjective

major (not comparable)

  1. (comparative degree of grande) bigger

Latin

Pronunciation

  • (Classical Latin) IPA(key): /ˈmai̯.i̯or/, [ˈmäi̯ːɔr]
  • (modern Italianate Ecclesiastical) IPA(key): /ˈma.jor/, [ˈmäːjor]

Adjective

major (comparative, neuter majus, positive magnus); third declension

  1. Alternative spelling of maior.

Inflection

Third-declension comparative adjective.

References

  • “major”, in Charlton T. Lewis and Charles Short (1879) A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
  • "major", in Charles du Fresne du Cange’s Glossarium Mediæ et Infimæ Latinitatis (augmented edition with additions by D. P. Carpenterius, Adelungius and others, edited by Léopold Favre, 1883–1887)

Polish

Etymology

Borrowed from German Major, from Latin maior. Doublet of mer (“mayor”).

Pronunciation

  • IPA(key): /ˈma.jɔr/
  • Rhymes: -ajɔr
  • Syllabification: ma‧jor

Noun

major m pers (abbreviation mjr)

  1. major (military rank)

Declension

Further reading

  • major in Wielki słownik języka polskiego, Instytut Języka Polskiego PAN
  • major in Polish dictionaries at PWN

Portuguese

Etymology

Borrowed from French major. Doublet of maior.

Pronunciation

  • Rhymes: -ɔɾ
  • Hyphenation: ma‧jor

Noun

major m or f by sense (plural majores)

  1. (military) major (military rank)

Noun

major m (plural majores)

  1. (Brazil) brown-chested martin (Progne tapera)
    Synonym: andorinha-do-campo

Adjective

major m or f (plural majores)

  1. (rare) major
    Synonym: maior

References

Further reading

  • “major”, in iDicionário Aulete (in Portuguese), Rio de Janeiro: Lexikon Editora Digital, 2008–2025
  • “major”, in Dicionário Priberam da Língua Portuguesa (in Portuguese), Lisbon: Priberam, 2008–2025
  • “major”, in Dicionário infopédia da Língua Portuguesa (in Portuguese), Porto: Porto Editora, 2003–2025
  • “major”, in Michaelis Dicionário Brasileiro da Língua Portuguesa (in Portuguese), São Paulo: Editora Melhoramentos, 2015–2025

Romanian

Etymology

Borrowed from French majeur, from Latin maior. Doublet of maior and possibly mare.

Adjective

major m or n (feminine singular majoră, masculine plural majori, feminine and neuter plural majore)

  1. major (significant)

Declension

Serbo-Croatian

Etymology

Borrowed from German Major, from Latin maior.

Pronunciation

  • IPA(key): /mǎjoːr/
  • Hyphenation: ma‧jor

Noun

màjōr m (Cyrillic spelling ма̀јо̄р)

  1. (military, Serbo-Croatian, Serbo-Croatian) major (rank)
    Synonym: tisućnik

Declension

Synonyms

  • (Serbo-Croatian): bojnik

Swedish

Pronunciation

Noun

major c

  1. a major
  2. a Squadron Leader (in the British Royal Air Force)

Declension

References

Bookmark
share
WebDictionary.net is an Free English Dictionary containing information about the meaning, synonyms, antonyms, definitions, translations, etymology and more.

Related Words

majority

Browse the English Dictionary

A - B - C - D - E - F - G - H - I - J - K - L - M - N - O - P - Q - R - S - T - U - V - W - X - Y - Z

License

This article based on an article on Wiktionary. The list of authors can be seen in the page history there. The original work has been modified. This article is distributed under the terms of this license.