Most Meaning
/ˈməʊst/Definition, CEFR level A1, pronunciation, examples, and quiz.
Listen pronunciation
Definition
detsuperlative degree of much.
detsuperlative degree of many: the comparatively largest number of (construed with the definite article)
Sentence Examples
Most people think I'm crazy.
Most people write about their daily life.
Most people prefer to spend their summer holidays near the beach.
CEFR Practice Quiz
Of all the candidates, she received the ____ votes and won the election easily.
CEFR Practice Quiz (Alternate)
I think that ____ people would agree that being kind and helpful to others is a very important quality to have in life.
Word Origin & History
Etymology tree Proto-Indo-European *meh₂-der. Proto-Germanic *maiz Proto-Germanic *maistaz Proto-Germanic *maist Proto-West Germanic *maist Old English mǣst Middle English English most 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”).
Literary Quotations & Historical Citations
"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."
— 1918, W[illiam] B[abington] Maxwell, chapter XII, in The Mirror and the Lamp, Indianapolis, Ind.: The Bobbs-Merrill Company, →OCLC, page 77:
"“[…] 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. […]”"
— 1921, Ben Travers, chapter 1, in A Cuckoo in the Nest, Garden City, N.Y.: Doubleday, Page & Company, published 1925, →OCLC:
"Most cruel edict! Sure, thy generous soul, Septimius, abhors the dreadful task of persecution."
— 1750, “Theodora”, Thomas Morell (lyrics), George Frideric Handel (music):
"A noble craft, but somehow a most melancholy!"
— 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:
"Now, I still think that for this box of matches to have escaped the wear of time for immemorial years was a most strange, as for me it was a most fortunate, thing."
— 1895 May 29, H[erbert] G[eorge] Wells, “The Palace of Green Porcelain”, in The Time Machine: An Invention, London: William Heinemann, →OCLC, pages 114–115:
Explore More A1 Vocabulary Words
CEFR Practice Quiz
Of all the candidates, she received the ____ votes and won the election easily.
CEFR Practice Quiz (Alternate)
I think that ____ people would agree that being kind and helpful to others is a very important quality to have in life.