First vs Major - What's the difference?
first | major | Related terms |
Preceding all others of a series or kind; the ordinal of one; earliest.
*
, title=(The Celebrity), chapter=2
, passage=Sunning himself on the board steps, I saw for the first time Mr. Farquhar Fenelon Cooke. He was dressed out in broad gaiters and bright tweeds, like an English tourist, and his face might have belonged to Dagon, idol of the Philistines.}}
* {{quote-magazine, date=2013-08-03, volume=408, issue=8847, magazine=(The Economist)
, title= Most eminent or exalted; most excellent; chief; highest.
* 1784 : William Jones, The Description and Use of a New Portable Orrery, &c. ,
Before anything else; firstly.
* , chapter=8
, title= * {{quote-magazine, date=2013-06-29, volume=407, issue=8842, page=29, magazine=(The Economist)
, title= (uncountable) The person or thing in the first position.
* 1699 , ,
(uncountable) The first gear of an engine.
(countable) Something that has never happened before; a new occurrence.
(countable, baseball) first base
(countable, British, colloquial) A first-class honours degree.
(countable, colloquial) A first-edition copy of some publication.
A fraction of an integer ending in one.
(en noun), or, when used as a title before a person's name , Major
a military rank between captain and lieutenant colonel
Of great significance or importance.
* {{quote-magazine, date=2013-06-21, author=
, volume=189, issue=2, page=10, magazine=(The Guardian Weekly)
, title= Greater in number, quantity, or extent.
Of full legal age; having attained majority.
(music) Of a scale which follows the pattern: tone - tone - semitone - tone - tone - tone - semitone
(music) Being the larger of two intervals denoted by the same ordinal number.
(music) Containing the note which is a major third (four half steps) above the tonic.
(US, Canada, Australia, and, New Zealand) The main area of study of a student working toward a degree at a college or university.
(US, Canada, Australia, and, New Zealand) A student at a college or university concentrating on a given area of study.
A person of legal age.
(logic) The major premise.
(Canadian football) An alternate term for touchdown; short for "major score".
A large, commercially successful record label, as opposed to an indie.
* 2005 , Billboard (volume 117, number 3, 15 January 2005, page 36)
to concentrate on a particular area of study as a student in a college or university
As adjectives the difference between first and major
is that first is preceding all others of a series or kind; the ordinal of one; earliest while major is of great significance or importance.As nouns the difference between first and major
is that first is the person or thing in the first position while major is a military rank between captain and lieutenant colonel.As an adverb first
is before anything else; firstly.As a verb major is
to concentrate on a particular area of study as a student in a college or university.As a proper noun Major is
{{surname}.first
English
(wikipedia first)Etymology 1
From (etyl) (m), (m), (m), (m), from (etyl) (m), .Alternative forms
* firste (archaic) * fyrst (obsolete) * fyrste (obsolete)Adjective
(-)Yesterday’s fuel, passage=The dawn of the oil age was fairly recent. Although the stuff was used to waterproof boats in the Middle East 6,000 years ago, extracting it in earnest began only in 1859 after an oil strike in Pennsylvania. The first barrels of crude fetched $18 (around $450 at today’s prices).}}
PREFACE
- THE favourable reception the Orrery has met with from Per?ons of the fir?t di?tinction, and from Gentlemen and Ladies in general, has induced me to add to it ?everal new improvements in order to give it a degree of Perfection; and di?tingui?h it from others; which by Piracy, or Imitation, may be introduced to the Public.
Alternative forms
* ; (in names of monarchs and popes) IAdverb
(-)Mr. Pratt's Patients, passage=That concertina was a wonder in its way. The handles that was on it first was wore out long ago, and he'd made new ones of braided rope yarn. And the bellows was patched in more places than a cranberry picker's overalls.}}
Unspontaneous combustion, passage=Since the mid-1980s, when Indonesia first began to clear its bountiful forests on an industrial scale in favour of lucrative palm-oil plantations, “haze” has become an almost annual occurrence in South-East Asia.}}
Noun
Heads designed for an essay on conversations
- Study gives strength to the mind; conversation, grace: the first apt to give stiffness, the other suppleness: one gives substance and form to the statue, the other polishes it.
Derived terms
* feet first * firstborn * first-class * first gear * first imperative (Latin grammar) * first of all * first place * first things first * first upSee also
* primaryEtymology 2
From (etyl) (m), (m), (m), from (etyl) (m), (m), . See also (l).Statistics
*major
English
Alternative forms
* majour (obsolete)Etymology 1
From (etyl)Alternative forms
* (abbreviation)Noun
(wikipedia major)- He used to be a major in the army.
- This is Major Jones.
Usage notes
When used as a title, it is always capitalized. : Example: Major Jane Payne. The rank corresponds to pay grade O-4. Abbreviations: Maj. and MAJ.Etymology 2
(etyl) , from Proto-Indo-European *ma?-yes-'' "greater", comparative of ''*ma?-, *me?- , "great".Adjective
Karen McVeigh
US rules human genes can't be patented, passage=The US supreme court has ruled unanimously that natural human genes cannot be patented, a decision that scientists and civil rights campaigners said removed a major barrier to patient care and medical innovation.}}
- the major part of the assembly
- a major scale.
Derived terms
* majorlyAntonyms
* minorNoun
(en noun)- Midway through his second year of college, he still hadn't chosen a major .
- She is a math major .
- He says Ninja Tune retains the master and publishing rights on most of its catalog, making it easy to license quickly. Yet as majors jump on the videogame bandwagon, he fears indies may lose that outlet.
Antonyms
* (a person of legal age) minorVerb
(en verb)- I have decided to major in mathematics.
