major

From Wiktionary
major is one of the 1000 most common headwords.
main - major - make
major is on the Academic Word List.

Pronunciation[change]

Adjective[change]

Positive
major

Comparative
more major

Superlative
most major

  1. (countable) A major change, problem, event, etc. is a big and important one.
    We expected the change to cause a lot of problems, but in the end it wasn't as major as we had thought.
    Tom Cruise had a major part in the movie. He directed it and acted in it as the main character.
  2. (music) A major musical scale is the usual scale for music in western culture. The major scale starts two notes above the minor and more often sounds happy.
    That music could be D minor or F major.

Antonyms[change]

Noun[change]

Singular
major

Plural
majors

  1. (countable) A major is a subject area that is the main study of a student at a college or university.
    My major is Speech-Language Pathology, which is about problems people may have with talking.
  2. (countable) A major is a military rank between captain and lieutenant-colonel.
  3. (countable) A major is a person of the legal age of majority.

Antonyms[change]

  • (person of legal age): minor

Related words[change]

Verb[change]

Plain form
major

Third-person singular
majors

Past tense
majored

Past participle
majored

Present participle
majoring

  1. If you major in something, you concentrate on a single area of study as a student at a college or university.
    My mother majored in English but I will major in psychology.