What does most mean

There is no specific number or ratio that must be adhered to. They vary depending on context. The ordering given shows their expected order in general but one may be more than the other in one context and maybe the other way in another context. Also, these words show the difficulty in dictionary definitions. One online definition for 'most' is "greatest in amount or degree.

But this is actually in the context of 'the most' not the simple 'most'. The definition is close but doesn't specify all the subtlety. The related technical words are majority and plurality. It looks then like 'most' is equivalent to 'plurality', and I think they are very close. But 'most' is still vague. Like 'a couple' which literally means two , 'most' might be used aspirationally and is used often just to mean 'a lot'. You spend "the most" time at house A, you don't spend "most of your time" at house A.

Most is defined by the attributes you apply to it. Your time implies your total time, where the most time implies more than the rest. I think "most" leads to a great deal of ambiguity.

You spend most of your time outside of house A. The way to describe that you are in house A more than you are in any other house, could be for example in any of these ways:. Sign up to join this community. The best answers are voted up and rise to the top. Stack Overflow for Teams — Collaborate and share knowledge with a private group. Create a free Team What is Teams? Learn more. What does the word "most" mean? Ask Question. Asked 5 years ago. Active 4 years, 10 months ago. Viewed 8k times. I own 3 houses.

Improve this question. Comments are not for extended discussion; this conversation has been moved to chat. How to use prominent in a sentence Thankfully, a number of prominent organizations such as the American Medical Association, the American College of Obstetricians of Gynecologists and the March of Dimes have declared medical racism a public health crisis.

Medical racism has shaped U. Trevor Bauer, unorthodox star with an unorthodox deal, gets an unorthodox Dodgers intro Chelsea Janes February 12, Washington Post. Sculpture parks are a great way to see art during a pandemic. Sebastian Smee February 11, Washington Post. Our Little Korean Cousin H. Lee M. Derived forms of prominent prominently , adverb prominentness , noun.

Projecting outward or upward; protuberant. Immediately noticeable; conspicuous. It was with the utmost difficulty that his wiser subordinates got him to disarm the sepoy regiments in Agra itself. Never did events of the utmost magnitude hinge on incidents so trivial to the community at large.

The utmost care has been taken in verifying the stock-sheets with the registers, and with checking the volumes themselves. New Word List Word List. Save This Word! Also uttermost. See synonyms for utmost on Thesaurus.