What's the difference between
and
Enter two words to compare and contrast their definitions, origins, and synonyms to better understand how those words are related.

Maine vs Main - What's the difference?

maine | main |

As proper nouns the difference between maine and main

is that maine is a province in northwest France, centred on the city of Le Mans while Main is a river in southern Germany, flowing from Bavaria to the Rhine.

As an adjective main is

great in size or degree; vast; strong; powerful; important.

As an adverb main is

very; very much; greatly; mightily; extremely; exceedingly.

As a noun main is

strength; power; force; violent effort.

maine

English

Etymology 1

Apprently from the name of the Celtic tribe the aulerci cenomanni, who inhabited a territory centered around its capital city of , today le Mans (a corruption of Cenomannis to *Celmans'' to ''Le Mans ).

Proper noun

(en proper noun)
  • A province in northwest France, centred on the city of Le Mans.
  • Derived terms
    * Bas-Maine * Haut-Maine * Mainiot * mainiot * Mainiote * mainiote

    Etymology 2

    From the (etyl) province

    Proper noun

    (en proper noun)
  • The northeasternmost state of the United States of America, the capital of which is Augusta.
  • A town in Marathon County, Wisconsin.
  • A town in Outagamie County, Wisconsin.
  • A town in Broome County, New York.
  • Derived terms
    * Mainer * ME

    Etymology 3

    Proper noun

    (en proper noun)
  • A river, a tributary of the Loire, in the Maine-et-Loire in France.
  • See also
    * Maine-et-Loire *

    Anagrams

    * ----

    main

    English

    Etymology 1

    From (etyl) (m), (m), (m), partly from (etyl) . More at (may).

    Adjective

    (-)
  • (label) Great in size or degree; vast; strong; powerful; important.
  • * (Samuel Daniel) (1562-1619)
  • Principal; prime; chief; leading; of chief or principal importance.
  • * (John Tillotson) (1630-1694)
  • * , chapter=7
  • , title= The Mirror and the Lamp , passage=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.}}
  • *{{quote-book, year=1935, author= George Goodchild
  • , title=Death on the Centre Court, chapter=5 , passage=By one o'clock the place was choc-a-bloc. […] The restaurant was packed, and the promenade between the two main courts and the subsidiary courts was thronged with healthy-looking youngish people, drawn to the Mecca of tennis from all parts of the country.}}
  • Principal or chief in size or extent; largest; consisting of the largest part; most important by reason or size or strength.
  • * (John Milton) (1608-1674)
  • * {{quote-magazine, date=2013-08-03, volume=408, issue=8847, magazine=(The Economist)
  • , title= 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.
  • Full; undivided; sheer (of strength, force etc.).
  • * 1817 , (Walter Scott), , XII:
  • (label) Belonging to or connected with the principal mast in a vessel.
  • (label) Big; angry.
  • Derived terms
    * main drag * main road

    Adverb

    (en adverb)
  • Very; very much; greatly; mightily; extremely; exceedingly.
  • * 1799 , Samuel Foote, The works of Samuel Foote :
  • * 1840 , Richard Brinsley Sheridan, Leigh Hunt, Johann Wolfgang von Goethe, The dramatic works of Richard Brinsley Sheridan :
  • Etymology 2

    From (etyl) , later also taking senses from the adjective.

    Noun

    (en noun)
  • * Spenser
  • That which is chief or principal; the chief or main portion; the gross; the bulk; the greater part.
  • * Francis Bacon
  • * 1858 , Humphrey Prideaux, James Talboys Wheeler, An historical connection of the Old and New Testaments :
  • * Francis Bacon
  • * 1624 , John Smith, Generall Historie , in Kupperman 1988, page 90:
  • * 1624 , John Donne, Devotions Upon Emergent Occasions, and severall steps in my Sicknes (Meditation XVII):
  • * 1851 , Herman Melville, Moby-Dick :
  • * Dryden
  • A large pipe or cable providing utility service to a building or area, such as water main or electric main.
  • (label) The mainsail.
  • Derived terms
    {{der3, (large pipe or cable) gas main, mains (qualifier), water main , in the main , main brace , main drag , maincrop , mainframe , mainland , mainline, main line , mainmast , mainplane , mainsail , mainsheet , mainspring , mainstreet, main street , maintop , maintopmast}}

    Etymology 3

    ; compare (manual).

    Noun

    (en noun)
  • A hand or match in a game of dice.
  • (Prior)
    (Thackeray)
  • A stake played for at dice.
  • * Shakespeare, The First Park of King Henry IV
  • The largest throw in a match at dice; a throw at dice within given limits, as in the game of hazard.
  • A match at cockfighting.
  • * Thackeray
  • A main-hamper, or fruit basket.
  • (Ainsworth)

    Statistics

    *

    Anagrams

    *