Link Centre Dictionary

mass

UK/ˈmæs/ US/mæs/ common
noun (9) adjective (2) verb (1)

noun

1.

the property of a body that causes it to have weight in a gravitational field

2.

(often followed by `of'') a large number or amount or extent

  • “a batch of letters”
  • “a deal of trouble”
  • “a lot of money”
  • “he made a mint on the stock market”
  • “it must have cost plenty”
Synonyms
3.

an ill-structured collection of similar things (objects or people)

4.

(Roman Catholic Church and Protestant Churches) the celebration of the Eucharist

5.

a body of matter without definite shape

  • “a huge ice mass”
6.

the common people generally

  • “separate the warriors from the mass”
  • “power to the people”
Synonyms
7.

the property of something that is great in magnitude

  • “it is cheaper to buy it in bulk”
  • “he received a mass of correspondence”
  • “the volume of exports”
Synonyms
8.

a musical setting for a Mass

  • “they played a Mass composed by Beethoven”
9.

a sequence of prayers constituting the Christian eucharistic rite

  • “the priest said Mass”

adjective

1.

occurring widely (as to many people)

  • “mass destruction”
Synonyms
Similar
2.

gathered or tending to gather into a mass or whole

  • “aggregate expenses include expenses of all divisions combined for the entire year”
  • “the aggregated amount of indebtedness”
Synonyms
Similar

verb

1.

join together into a mass or collect or form a mass

  • “Crowds were massing outside the palace”

Origin

From Middle English messe, from Old English mæsse and Old French messe, both from Late Latin missa, from Latin mittō (“to send, dismiss”), compare French messe. In the ancient churches, the public services at which the catechumens were permitted to be present were called missa catechumenorum, ending with the reading of the Gospel. Then they were dismissed with the words: "Ite, missa est", the congregation is dismissed. After that the sacrifice proper began. At its close the same words were said to those who remained. So the word gave the name of Mass to the sacrifice in the Catholic Church. Compare Christmas, Lammas, missal. Doublet of missa.

Phrases

  • active gravitational mass
  • air mass
  • atomic mass
  • blue mass
  • center of mass
  • centre of mass
  • conservation of mass
  • coronal mass ejection
  • mass burial
  • mass communication
  • mass culture
  • mass destruction

Related words

Word family

Broader terms

Narrower terms

Parts

WordNet 2.1 (Princeton University). Wiktionary (CC BY-SA). CMU Pronouncing Dictionary. WordNet 2.1 Copyright Princeton University. All rights reserved. Wiktionary content is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike Licence.