major

/ˈmeɪdʒər/
/ˈmeɪdʒə/
IPA guide

Other forms: majors; majored; majoring; majorly

Something major is big, big, big! It's major, baby! It's large! Important! Intense! Powerful! Michael Jackson's album "Thriller" was major, eventually becoming the biggest-selling album of all time.

A victory of 98 to 3 might well be called major. If you're a musician, you're probably also familiar with the difference between a minor scale and a major scale. A major scale sounds happy, while a minor one sounds sad. The discovery of life on another planet? Major. Getting into the college of your choice? Major. For everything else, there's "ordinary."

Definitions of major
  1. adjective
    greater in scope or effect
    “a major contribution”
    “a major improvement”
    “a major break with tradition”
    “a major misunderstanding”
    see moresee less
    antonyms:
    minor
    lesser in scope or effect
  2. adjective
    of greater seriousness or danger
    “a major earthquake”
    “a major hurricane”
    “a major illness”
    see moresee less
    antonyms:
    minor
    of lesser seriousness or danger
  3. adjective
    greater in number or size or amount
    “a major portion (a majority) of the population”
    “a major portion of the winnings”
    synonyms:
    better
    more than half
    see moresee less
    antonyms:
    minor
    inferior in number or size or amount
  4. adjective
    of greater importance or stature or rank
    “a major artist”
    “a major role”
    “major highways”
    synonyms:
    leading, prima, star, starring, stellar
    indicating the most important performer or role
    see moresee less
    antonyms:
    minor
    of lesser importance or stature or rank
    insignificant, peanut
    of little importance or influence or power; of minor status
    secondary
    not of major importance
    show more antonyms...
  5. noun
    a commissioned military officer in the United States Army or Air Force or Marines; below lieutenant colonel and above captain
    see moresee less
    type of:
    commissioned military officer
    a commissioned officer in the Army or Air Force or Marine Corps
  6. noun
    the principal field of study of a student at a university
    “her major is linguistics”
    see moresee less
    type of:
    bailiwick, discipline, field, field of study, study, subject, subject area, subject field
    a branch of knowledge
  7. noun
    a university student who is studying a particular field as the principal subject
    “she is a linguistics major”
    see moresee less
    type of:
    educatee, pupil, student
    a learner who is enrolled in an educational institution
  8. verb
    have as one's principal field of study
    “She is majoring in linguistics”
    see moresee less
    type of:
    study
    be a student; follow a course of study; be enrolled at an institute of learning
  9. adjective
    of the field of academic study in which one concentrates or specializes
    “his major field was mathematics”
    see moresee less
    antonyms:
    minor
    of your secondary field of academic concentration or specialization
  10. adjective
    of a scale or mode
    “major scales”
    “the key of D major”
    see moresee less
    antonyms:
    minor
    of a scale or mode
  11. adjective
    of full legal age
    see moresee less
    antonyms:
    minor
    not of legal age
  12. adjective
    of the elder of two boys with the same family name
    “Jones major”
    synonyms:
    senior
    older; higher in rank; longer in length of tenure or service
Pronunciation
US
/ˈmeɪdʒər/
UK
/ˈmeɪdʒə/
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DISCLAIMER: These example sentences appear in various news sources and books to reflect the usage of the word ‘major'. Views expressed in the examples do not represent the opinion of Vocabulary.com or its editors. Send us feedback
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