Word.ws English Dictionary

major

/ˈmeɪ.d͡ʒə(ɹ)/UK[ˈmeɪ̯d͡ʒə(ɹ)]

major adjective: greater in dignity, rank, importance, significance, or interest. Also the ellipsis of major key.

Adjective

major (comparative more major, superlative most major)

  1. (attributive) Greater in dignity, rank, importance, significance, or interest.
    • The US supreme court has ruled unanimously that natural human genes cannot be patented, a decision that scientists and civil rights campaigners said removed a major barrier to patient care and medical innovation.2013 June 13, Karen McVeigh, “US supreme court rules human genes cannot be patented”, in The Guardian Weekly, volume 189, number 2, page 10
  2. (attributive) Greater in number, quantity, or extent.
    • the major part of the assembly
    • The three major religions are Islam, Judaism, and Christianity.
    Synonyms:
    main
  3. (attributive) Notable or conspicuous in effect or scope.
    • The building underwent a major renovation.
    • Believing as he did that all differences of view, not only on questions of major principle and strategy but also in matters of organization, in the last resort 'reflected' class antagonisms […]1978 [1976], Leszek Kołakowski, translated by P[aul] S[teven] Falla, Main Currents of Marxism, volume II: The Golden Age, Oxford: Clarendon Press, translation of Główne nurty marksizmu: rozwój (in...
    Synonyms:
    considerable
  4. (attributive) Prominent or significant in size, amount, or degree.
    • to earn some major cash
    • a major exhibition
  5. (attributive) Involving great risk, serious, life-threatening.
    • to suffer from a major illness
  6. Of full legal age, having attained majority.
    • major children
  7. Of or relating to a subject of academic study chosen as a field of specialization.
  8. Having intervals of a semitone between the third and fourth, and seventh and eighth degrees. (of a scale)
    • major scale
  9. 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)
    • major third
    1. Having a major third above the root.
      • major triad
  10. (postpositional) (of a key) Based on a major scale, tending to produce a bright or joyful effect.
  11. Bell changes rung on eight bells.
  12. (UK, dated) Indicating the elder of two brothers (or the eldest of three), appended to a surname in public schools.
  13. Occurring as the predicate in the conclusion of a categorical syllogism. (of a term)
  14. Containing the major term in a categorical syllogism. (of a premise)

Noun (1)

major (plural majors)

  1. A rank of officer in the army and the US air force, between captain and lieutenant colonel.
    • He used to be a major in the army.
    1. An officer in charge of a section of band instruments, used with a modifier.
  2. A person of legal age.
    Antonyms:
    minor
  3. A system of change-ringing using eight bells.
  4. A large, commercially successful company, especially a record label that is bigger than an indie.
    • At the end of last year, the band re-signed to XL for another three albums, despite being chased by majors that included Island, says manager Mike Champion of Midi Management.1997, Dominic Pride, “U.S. success caps global impact of XL's prodigy”, in Billboard, volume 109, number 30, page 86
  5. (Australia, Canada, New Zealand, US) The principal subject or course of a student working toward a degree at a college or university.
    • Midway through his second year of college, he still hadn't chosen a major.
    Synonyms:
    course
    1. (Australia, Canada, New Zealand, US) A student at a college or university specializing on a given area of study.
      • She is a math major.
  6. (Canadian) A touchdown, or major score.
  7. (Australian rules football) A goal.
  8. (British, dated, slang) An elder brother (especially at a public school).
  9. A large leaf-cutter ant that acts as a soldier, defending the nest.

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.

Proper noun capitalized: Major

Major (countable and uncountable, plural Majors)

  1. A surname.
  2. An unincorporated community in Owsley County, Kentucky, United States.
  3. A village in the Rural Municipality of Prairiedale, No. 321, Saskatchewan, Canada.

Noun (2) capitalized: Major

Major (plural Majors)

  1. Title for an army officer with the rank of major.

Also used as

major is also the ellipsis of major key.

major is also the ellipsis of major interval.

major is also the ellipsis of major scale.

major is also the ellipsis of major term.

major is also the ellipsis of major premise.

major is also the ellipsis of major suit.

major meaning in Hindi, Tamil, Marathi and Urdu

major in Hindi

of full legal age; having attained majority
बालिग़ bāliġ, वयस्क vayask, प्रौढ़ prauṛh
military rank
मेजर mejar
person of legal age
बालिग़ bāliġ, वयस्क vayask, प्रौढ़ prauṛh

major in Tamil

மேஜர்

major in Marathi

मेजर

major in Urdu

میجر
More languagesFewer languages
major in Bengali
প্রাপ্তবয়স্ক praptoboẏosko, সাবালক śabalok, মেজর mejor
major in Telugu
మేజరు mējaru
major in Malayalam
മേജർ
major in Kannada
ಮೇಜರ್
major in Punjabi
ਮੇਜਰ
major in Gujarati
મેજર
major in Odia
ମେଜର
major in Nepali
मेजर
major in Tagalog
kalakhan
major in Arabic
رَائِد rāʔid
major in Malay
mejar
major in Indonesian
mayor, jurusan
major in Persian
ماژور mâžor, مهم mohemm, بزرگ bozorg, عمده 'omde
major in Thai
พันตรี pan-trii, วิชาเอก wí-chaa-èek
major in Vietnamese
thiếu tá
major in Myanmar
ဗိုလ်မှူး builhmu:
Kashmiri
میجَر mējar

Examples of major in a sentence

  • The five major religions are Islam, Judaism, Christianity, Hinduism, and Buddhism.
  • I gotta take a whiz test to my PO / I know I failed 'cause I done smoked major weed, bro1995, “I Got 5 on It”, in Operation Stackola, performed by Luniz:
  • [B]y the time I turned back to the screen, Jamie was fully dressed, major bummer.1995, Paul Vautin, Turn It Up!, Sydney: Pan Macmillan Australia, page 129:

All 40 example sentences with major

Synonyms of major

Antonyms

Forms of major

Adjective
comparativemore major
superlativemost major
alternative form (obsolete)majour
Noun
pluralmajors
pluralMajors
Verb
third-person singular presentmajors
present participlemajoring
past participlemajored
pastmajored
Proper noun
pluralMajors

Plural of major: majors

Origin of major

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. Noun sense 1 is a shortening of sergeant major, perhaps after Spanish mayor in the same sense.

* As an English surname of Norman origin, from the personal name Malgier, via Old French from the Germanic name *Madalgari. See Mauger. * As a Hungarian surname, shortened from majorosgazda (see Majoros), or borrowed from German Meyer. * As a Polish, Czech, and Slovak surname, from the military rank major. * As a Jewish surname, variant of Meyer. * As a French and Occitan surname, from the adjective majeur and the military rank major. The latter appears in Canadian French, sometimes also as La Major.

Words formed from major

Phrases with major

59 more phrasesFewer phrases

Words that rhyme with major

Questions about major

What does major mean?
Major means greater in dignity, rank, importance, significance, or interest.
What is major in Hindi?
Major in Hindi is बालिग़ (bāliġ), वयस्क (vayask), प्रौढ़ (prauṛh). See Major meaning in Hindi.
How do you use major in a sentence?
The five major religions are Islam, Judaism, Christianity, Hinduism, and Buddhism.
What part of speech is major?
Major can be an adjective, a noun, a verb or a proper noun.
How do you pronounce major?
Major is pronounced /ˈmeɪ.d͡ʒə(ɹ)/.

Words near major in the dictionary

  1. majolicaware
  2. majolist
  3. majolists
  4. majoon
  5. majoons
  6. major
  7. major appliance
  8. major appliances
  9. major arcana
  10. major axes
  11. major axis

Source and license

Adapted from Wiktionary: major (page history and authors); Major (page history and authors); major (Tamil, IndicTrans2 machine translation) (model and license); major (Marathi, IndicTrans2 machine translation) (model and license); major (Urdu, IndicTrans2 machine translation) (model and license); major (Malayalam, IndicTrans2 machine translation) (model and license); major (Kannada, IndicTrans2 machine translation) (model and license); major (Punjabi, IndicTrans2 machine translation) (model and license); major (Gujarati, IndicTrans2 machine translation) (model and license); major (Odia, IndicTrans2 machine translation) (model and license); major (Nepali, IndicTrans2 machine translation) (model and license). Text available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 license. Word.ws reformatted the entry and added links. Wiktionary data of 2026-09-02.

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Pronunciation audio from Wikimedia Commons, each file under its own free license: en-us-major.ogg, en-au-major.ogg.

Cite this entry: “major.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/major. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.