most

• (Received Pronunciation) enPR: mōst, IPA^(key): /ˈməʊst/
• (General American) enPR: mōst, IPA^(key): /ˈmoʊst/

• Audio (US)

  (file)

• Rhymes: -əʊst

From Middle English most, moste, from Old English mǣst, māst, from Proto-Germanic *maistaz, *maist. Cognate with Scots mast, maist (“most”), Saterland Frisian maast (“most”), West Frisian meast (“most”), Dutch meest (“most”), German meist (“most”), Danish and Swedish mest (“most”), Icelandic mestur (“most”).

• moste (obsolete)

most

1. superlative degree of much.

   The teams competed to see who could collect (the) most money.

2. superlative degree of many: the comparatively largest number of (construed with the definite article)

   The team with the most points wins.

3. superlative degree of many: the majority of; more than half of (construed without the definite article)

   Most bakers and dairy farmers have to get up early.

   Winning was not important for most participants.

• (superlative of much): more than half of (in meaning, not grammar), almost all
• (superlative of many): the majority of (in meaning, not grammar)

most (not comparable)

1. Forms the superlative of many adjectives.

   Antonym: least

   This is the most important example.

   Correctness is most important.

   • 1918, W[illiam] B[abington] Maxwell, chapter XII, in The Mirror and the Lamp, Indianapolis, Ind.: The Bobbs-Merrill Company, →OCLC, page 77:

     With some of it on the south and more of it on the north of the great main thoroughfare that connects Aldgate and the East India Docks, St. Bede's at this period of its history was perhaps the poorest and most miserable parish in the East End of London.

   • 1921, Ben Travers, chapter 1, in A Cuckoo in the Nest, Garden City, N.Y.: Doubleday, Page & Company, published 1925, →OCLC:

     “ […] the awfully hearty sort of Christmas cards that people do send to other people that they don't know at all well. You know. The kind that have mottoes […] . And then, when you see [the senders], you probably find that they are the most melancholy old folk with malignant diseases. […] ”

2. To a great extent or degree; highly; very.

   This is a most unusual specimen.

   • 1750, “Theodora”, Thomas Morell (lyrics), George Frideric Handel (music)‎:

     Most cruel edict! Sure, thy generous soul, Septimius, abhors the dreadful task of persecution.

   • 1851 November 14, Herman Melville, “The Ship”, in Moby-Dick; or, The Whale, 1st American edition, New York, N.Y.: Harper & Brothers; London: Richard Bentley, →OCLC, page 77:

     A noble craft, but somehow a most melancholy!

   • 1895 May 7, H[erbert] G[eorge] Wells, “The Palace of Green Porcelain”, in The Time Machine: An Invention, New York, N.Y.: Henry Holt and Company, →OCLC, page 162:

     Now, I still think that for this box of matches to have escaped the wear of time for immemorial years was a strange, and for me, a most fortunate thing.

   • 1922, Ruth Plumly Thompson, “The Last Giant”, in The Princess of Cozytown, P. F. Volland, page 80:

     “His song is most unpleasant,” said the King rubbing his head, “pray bid him cease,” and off went the secretary to argue with the wind.

3. superlative degree of much
   • 2013 August 3, “Boundary Problems”, in The Economist‎, volume 408, number 8847:

     Economics is a messy discipline: too fluid to be a science, too rigorous to be an art. Perhaps it is fitting that economists’ most-used metric, gross domestic product (GDP), is a tangle too.

• more

most (not comparable)

1. (slang, dated) The greatest; the best.
   • 1978 September 14, Jim Jacobs, Warren Casey, Bronte Woodard, directed by Randal Kleiser, Grease‎ (film), spoken by Patty Simcox (Susan Buckner):

     PATTY:They announced this year's nominees for student council. And guess who's up for vice-president? Me! Isn't that the most to say the least?

most

1. The greater part of a group, especially a group of people.

   Most want the best for their children.

   The peach was juicier and more flavourful than most.

• (greater part): the majority

most (usually uncountable, plural mosts)

1. (uncountable) The greatest amount.

   The most I can offer for the house is $150,000.

2. (countable, uncountable) The greater part.

   Most of the penguins were friendly and curious.

   Most of the rice was spoiled.

   • 1892, Walter Besant, “The Select Circle”, in The Ivory Gate […], New York, N.Y.: Harper & Brothers, […], →OCLC, page 46:

     At half-past nine on this Saturday evening the parlor of the Salutation Inn, High Holborn, contained most of its customary visitors. […] In former days every tavern of repute kept such a room for the select circle—a club, or society, of habitués, who met every evening for a pipe and a cheerful glass.

   • 1963, Margery Allingham, “Eye Witness”, in The China Governess: A Mystery, London: Chatto & Windus, →OCLC, page 249:

     The story struck the depressingly familiar note with which true stories ring in the tried ears of experienced policemen. […] The second note, the high alarum, not so familiar and always important since it indicates the paramount sin in Man's private calendar, took most of them by surprise although they had been well prepared.

   • 2013 August 16, John Vidal, “Dams endanger ecology of Himalayas”, in The Guardian Weekly, volume 189, number 10, page 8:

     Most of the Himalayan rivers have been relatively untouched by dams near their sources. Now the two great Asian powers, India and China, are rushing to harness them as they cut through some of the world's deepest valleys.

3. (countable) A record-setting amount.
   • 2001, George Barna, Real Teens: A Contemporary Snapshot of Youth Culture, →ISBN, page 15:

     Along with their massive size will come other “mosts”: they will likely be the longest living, the best educated, the wealthiest and the most wired/ wireless.

   • 2002, John Gregory Selby, Virginians at War: The Civil War Experiences of Seven Young Confederates, →ISBN, page xvii:

     Virginia had a number of "mosts” that made it appealing, if not representative of all Confederate states: the most citizens among the Southern states; the most slaves; the most men under arms; the most famous Southern generals; the most fighting within its borders; the most divided by the war (what other Southern state lost a quarter of its territory and saw a new state created out of that former territory?); and the most damaged by the war.

   • 2007, Joe Moscheo, The Gospel Side of Elvis, →ISBN:

     The record of Elvis' achievement is truly remarkable; his list of “firsts” and “mosts” is probably without parallel in music and entertainment history.

• In the sense of record, used when the positive denotation of best does not apply.

Reduction of almost.

most (not comparable)

1. (informal, chiefly US) Almost.
   • 1998, Bill Zehme, The Way You Wear Your Hat: And the Lost Art of Livin' (page 181)

     A well-daiquiried redhead eyed him from across the room at Jilly's one night in 1963 — although it could have been most any night ever […]

   • 2000, Jewish Baltimore: A Family Album, →ISBN, page 159:

     "We walked there most every day after school."

   • 2011, Charlotte Maclay, Wanted: A Dad to Brag About, →ISBN:

     “Can't be all that bad if Luke likes it. Most everywhere has air-conditioning, he says.”

• Thesaurus:quantifier

• “most”, in OneLook Dictionary Search.

• MOTs, MTSO, TMOs, Toms, mots, smot, toms

Inherited from Latin mustum.

• IPA^(key): (Central, Balearic, Valencian) [ˈmost]

most m (plural mosts or mostos)

1. must (fruit juice that will ferment or has fermented)

• “most” in Diccionari de la llengua catalana, segona edició, Institut d’Estudis Catalans.
• “most”, in Gran Diccionari de la Llengua Catalana, Grup Enciclopèdia Catalana, 2024
• “most” in Diccionari normatiu valencià, Acadèmia Valenciana de la Llengua.
• “most” in Diccionari català-valencià-balear, Antoni Maria Alcover and Francesc de Borja Moll, 1962.

Inherited from Old Czech most, from Proto-Slavic *mostъ (“bridge”).

• IPA^(key): [ˈmost]

• audio

  (file)

most m inan (diminutive můstek or mostek or mostík)

1. bridge

• lávka

• most in Příruční slovník jazyka českého, 1935–1957
• most in Slovník spisovného jazyka českého, 1960–1971, 1989
• most in Internetová jazyková příručka

From Latin mustum.

• IPA^(key): /mɔst/

• Audio

  (file)

• Hyphenation: most
• Rhymes: -ɔst
• Homophone: Most

most m (uncountable, diminutive mostje n)

1. must (unfermented or partially fermented mashed grapes or rarely other fruits, an early stage in the production of wine)

From Latin mustum.

most m (plural mosts)

1. must (unfermented grape juice or wine)

From the earlier ma (“now”), which in modern Hungarian means “today” + -st. For the suffix, compare valamelyest.[1]

• IPA^(key): [ˈmoʃt]

• Audio

  (file)

• Rhymes: -oʃt

most

1. now

It can be suffixed from its (otherwise folksy) variant mostan: mostantól (“from now on”), mostanra (“by now”), mostanig (“until now”), or the latter more commonly formed with -a-, mostanáig (“until now”):

• most in Bárczi, Géza and László Országh. A magyar nyelv értelmező szótára (‘The Explanatory Dictionary of the Hungarian Language’, abbr.: ÉrtSz.). Budapest: Akadémiai Kiadó, 1959–1962. Fifth ed., 1992: →ISBN

most m inan (diminutive mosćik)

1. Superseded spelling of móst.

most

1. Alternative form of must

most

1. second-person singular present indicative of moten (“to have to”)

From Middle Low German most, must, from Latin mustum.

most m (definite singular mosten, indefinite plural moster, definite plural mostene)

1. must, (unfermented) fruit juice, particularly grape juice

• “most” in The Bokmål Dictionary.
• “most” in Det Norske Akademis ordbok (NAOB).

From Middle Low German most, must, from Latin mustum.

most m (definite singular mosten, indefinite plural mostar, definite plural mostane)

1. must, (unfermented) fruit juice, particularly grape juice

• “most” in The Nynorsk Dictionary.

From Proto-West Germanic *must.

most m

1. must

• German: Most

Inherited from Proto-Slavic *mȍstъ (“bridge”).

• IPA^(key): /mɔst/

• Audio

  (file)

• Rhymes: -ɔst
• Syllabification: most

most m inan (diminutive mościk, augmentative mościsko)

1. bridge (building over a river or valley)

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

Inherited from Proto-Slavic *mostъ (“bridge”).

• IPA^(key): /môːst/

mȏst m (Cyrillic spelling мо̑ст)

1. bridge (construction or natural feature that spans a divide)

Inherited from Proto-Slavic *mostъ (“bridge”).

• IPA^(key): [mɔst]

most m inan (genitive singular mosta, nominative plural mosty, genitive plural mostov, declension pattern of dub)

1. bridge

• mostík
• mostný
• mostový

• “most”, in Slovníkový portál Jazykovedného ústavu Ľ. Štúra SAV [Dictionary portal of the Ľ. Štúr Institute of Linguistics, Slovak Academy of Science] (in Slovak), https://slovnik.juls.savba.sk, 2024

From Proto-Slavic *mostъ (“bridge”).

• IPA^(key): /móːst/

mọ̑st m inan

1. bridge (construction or natural feature that spans a divide)

• “most”, in Slovarji Inštituta za slovenski jezik Frana Ramovša ZRC SAZU, portal Fran

most (nominative plural mosts)

1. monster