Wiktionary

most

See also: Most, móst, mōst, mošt, -most, and мост

English edit

 
English Wikipedia has an article on:
Wikipedia

Pronunciation edit

Etymology 1 edit

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”).

Alternative forms edit

Determiner edit

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

Adverb edit

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.
    • 1922, Ben Travers, chapter 1, in A Cuckoo in the Nest‎[1]:
      “[…] 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.
  3. superlative degree of many (Should we delete(+) this sense?)
    Antonym: least
    Most times when I go hiking I wear boots.
  4. superlative degree of much
    • 2013 August 3, “Boundary Problems”, in The Economist‎[3], 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.
Derived terms edit
Related terms edit
Translations edit
The translations below need to be checked and inserted above into the appropriate translation tables. See instructions at Wiktionary:Entry layout § Translations.

Adjective edit

most (not comparable)

  1. (slang, dated) The greatest; the best.
    • 1978 September 14, Jim Jacobs, Warren Casey, Bronte Woodard, directed by Randal Kleiser, Grease‎[4] (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?

Pronoun edit

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.
Synonyms edit

Noun edit

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

Etymology 2 edit

Reduction of almost.

Adverb edit

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.”
Translations edit
almost — see almost

See also edit

References edit

  • “most”, in OneLook Dictionary Search.

Anagrams edit

Catalan edit

Etymology edit

Inherited from Latin mustum.

Pronunciation edit

Noun edit

most m (plural mosts or mostos)

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

Further reading edit

Czech edit

 
Czech Wikipedia has an article on:
Wikipedia cs

Etymology edit

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

Pronunciation edit

Noun edit

most m inan (diminutive můstek or mostek or mostík)

  1. bridge

Declension edit

Declension of most (hard masculine inanimate)
singular plural
nominative most mosty
genitive mostu mostů
dative mostu mostům
accusative most mosty
vocative moste mosty
locative mostě mostech
instrumental mostem mosty

Derived terms edit

See also edit

Further reading edit

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

Dutch edit

Etymology edit

From Latin mustum.

Pronunciation edit

Noun edit

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)

Friulian edit

Etymology edit

From Latin mustum.

Noun edit

most m (plural mosts)

  1. must (unfermented grape juice or wine)

Hungarian edit

Etymology edit

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

Pronunciation edit

Adverb edit

most

  1. now

Declension edit

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”):

Inflection of most
singular plural
nominative most —
accusative — —
dative — —
instrumental — —
causal-final — —
translative — —
terminative mostanáig
(mostanig) 		—
essive-formal — —
essive-modal — —
inessive — —
superessive — —
adessive — —
illative — —
sublative mostanra —
allative — —
elative — —
delative — —
ablative mostantól —
non-attributive
possessive - singular 		— —
non-attributive
possessive - plural 		— —

Derived terms edit

References edit

  1. ^ most in Zaicz, Gábor (ed.). Etimológiai szótár: Magyar szavak és toldalékok eredete (‘Dictionary of Etymology: The origin of Hungarian words and affixes’). Budapest: Tinta Könyvkiadó, 2006, →ISBN.  (See also its 2nd edition.)

Further reading edit

  • 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

Lower Sorbian edit

Noun edit

most m inan (diminutive mosćik)

  1. Superseded spelling of móst.

Declension edit

Declension of most
Singular Dual Plural
Nominative most mosta mosty
Genitive mosta mostowu mostow
Dative mostoju mostoma mostam
Accusative most mosta mosty
Instrumental mostom mostoma mostami
Locative mosće mostoma mostach

Middle English edit

Etymology 1 edit

Noun edit

most

  1. Alternative form of must

Etymology 2 edit

Verb edit

most

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

Norwegian Bokmål edit

 
Norwegian Wikipedia has an article on:
Wikipedia no

Etymology edit

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

Noun edit

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

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

References edit

Norwegian Nynorsk edit

Etymology edit

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

Noun edit

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

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

References edit

Old High German edit

Etymology edit

From Proto-West Germanic *must.

Noun edit

most m

  1. must

Descendants edit

  • German: Most

Polish edit

 
Polish Wikipedia has an article on:
Wikipedia pl
 
most

Etymology edit

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

Pronunciation edit

Noun edit

most m inan (diminutive mościk, augmentative mościsko)

  1. bridge (building over a river or valley)

Declension edit

Declension of most
singular plural
nominative most mosty
genitive mostu mostów
dative mostowi mostom
accusative most mosty
instrumental mostem mostami
locative moście mostach
vocative moście mosty

Derived terms edit

adjective
adverb
nouns
verb
phrase

Further reading edit

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

Serbo-Croatian edit

 
Serbo-Croatian Wikipedia has an article on:
Wikipedia sh

Etymology edit

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

Pronunciation edit

Noun edit

mȏst m (Cyrillic spelling мо̑ст)

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

Declension edit

Declension of most
singular plural
nominative mȏst mòstovi
genitive mȍsta mostova
dative mostu mostovima
accusative most mostove
vocative moste mostovi
locative mostu mostovima
instrumental mostom mostovima

Derived terms edit

Slovak edit

 
Slovak Wikipedia has an article on:
Wikipedia sk

Etymology edit

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

Pronunciation edit

Noun edit

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

  1. bridge

Declension edit

Declension of most
singular plural
nominative most mosty
genitive mosta mostov
dative mostu mostom
accusative most mosty
locative moste mostoch
instrumental mostom mostami

Derived terms edit

Further reading edit

  • “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

Slovene edit

 
Slovene Wikipedia has an article on:
Wikipedia sl

Etymology edit

From Proto-Slavic *mostъ (“bridge”).

Pronunciation edit

Noun edit

mọ̑st m inan

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

Inflection edit

Declension of most
nom. sing. most
gen. sing. mostu
singular dual plural
nominative most mostova mostovi
accusative most mostova mostove
genitive mostu mostov mostov
dative mostu mostovoma mostovom
locative mostu mostovih mostovih
instrumental mostom mostovoma mostovi
 
 The diacritics used in this section of the entry are non-tonal. If you are a native tonal speaker, please help by adding the tonal marks.
Masculine inan., hard o-stem
nom. sing. móst
gen. sing. mósta
singular dual plural
nominative
(imenovȃlnik) 		móst mósta mósti
genitive
(rodȋlnik) 		mósta móstov móstov
dative
(dajȃlnik) 		móstu móstoma móstom
accusative
(tožȋlnik) 		móst mósta móste
locative
(mẹ̑stnik) 		móstu móstih móstih
instrumental
(orọ̑dnik) 		móstom móstoma mósti

Further reading edit

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

Volapük edit

Noun edit

most (nominative plural mosts)

  1. monster

Declension edit

declension of most
singular plural
nominative most mosts
genitive mosta mostas
dative moste mostes
accusative mosti mostis
vocative 1 o most! o mosts!
predicative 2 mostu mostus
  • 1 status as a case is disputed
  • 2 in later, non-classical Volapük only
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