People love shortcuts. Stereotypes help simplify the world to a set of patterns. Somewhere, we don’t want to succumb to the charm of conventional judgments, but mostly we readily accept them on faith and calm down. Today let's talk about the word "great." It is often used by journalists and commentators. We learn the whole spectrum of its meaning.
Value
Human life is filled with days. Some of them are nothing special. The second are a little more out of the general row. Still others can be described by the word "great." What are these events? Each one has their own: wedding, birthday, the birth of a son or daughter. There are days when professional success occurs. For example, remember that Emmett Brown from Robert Zemeckis’s cult trilogy “Back to the Future” remembered exactly when he invented the flow condenser - the reason for time travel. This significant event happened on November 5, 1955.
Of course, an ordinary person does not have such amazing accomplishments, but he has his own important, although not very significant victories in the eyes of mankind - the first date or the first work. This is also remembered forever. The first work is followed by the beloved, the work of a lifetime, well, this is at best. However, the time has come to reveal to the reader all the meanings of the word “great”, and not to operate with a single meaning:
- Superior general level, ordinary measure, value, outstanding.
- Very big.
- Larger than necessary, spacious.
It is characteristic that the latter meaning exists only in short form.
Examples of use
It makes no sense to illustrate the first position of the list; we already devoted more space to it than is permissible. But it is necessary to mention the rest. Sometimes the meanings of the word "great" can pass one into another. For example, when the Russian team beat the Dutch team at Euro 2008, it was a great joy. And here the adjective could be added to two nouns - “joy” and “day”. We, football fans, were visited by great joy, that is, very big, but at the same time this day became great, that is, it stands out against the general background. As a rule, when positive emotions go off scale, the date is automatically remembered. But a great sorrow happens in human life, and one cannot say here that the meanings of the word “great” intersect.
The third meaning, which exists only in short form, is used most often in relation to clothing:
- This sweater was great for me, so I had to bandage it.
- These shoes turned out to be great for Ivan Petrovich, so he took them to the store.
- Glory gloves were great, he looked funny in them.
Since the language is relatively free, a similar meaning can be applied to abstract things, for example: "This position, I believe, is still great for Ivan Fedorovich, he has not grown to it."
To appreciate the true diversity of the word “great,” let's look at its semantic replacements.
Synonyms
The object of our research today is extremely pleasant. But any word needs to be replaced. Sometimes circumstances require it. Let the reader not fall into sadness, we will help him with the synonyms of the word “great”:
- large;
- huge;
- known;
- famous;
- significant.
- ingenious;
- outstanding;
- gifted;
- talented;
- immense.
When there are a lot of replacements, we choose the ten most interesting. Naturally, not all substitutions are identical in content to the object of study. Therefore, we must vigilantly monitor the context and accuracy of expression when there is a need for synonyms.
Only history will judge who is great and who is the foam of days
As we have said, people are very fond of stereotypes. Life is easier with them. Our today's object of study - the adjective "great" - has become a victim of this habit of people to generalizations. Now we reward with a similar epithet all who we like. But in fact, the greatness of a person can be judged only after his death, when the result of life is summed up. And, as a rule, only history can issue medals. But that’s how a person works, he’s a passion for nature. Moreover, the synonyms that were mentioned just above indicate that the meaning of the word “great” implies various interpretations.