Major vs Main - What's the difference?
major | main |
(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
(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= *{{quote-book, year=1935, author=
, 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= 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.
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 :
* 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.
A hand or match in a game of dice.
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.
As nouns the difference between major and main
is that major is a military rank between captain and lieutenant colonel while main is strength; power; force; violent effort.As adjectives the difference between major and main
is that major is of great significance or importance while main is great in size or degree; vast; strong; powerful; important.As proper nouns the difference between major and main
is that major is {{surname} while Main is a river in southern Germany, flowing from Bavaria to the Rhine.As a verb major
is to concentrate on a particular area of study as a student in a college or university.As an adverb main is
very; very much; greatly; mightily; extremely; exceedingly.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.
Anagrams
* ----main
English
Etymology 1
From (etyl) (m), (m), (m), partly from (etyl) . More at (may).Adjective
(-)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.}}
George Goodchild
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.
Derived terms
* main drag * main roadAdverb
(en adverb)Etymology 2
From (etyl) , later also taking senses from the adjective.Noun
(en noun)Quotations
* (English Citations of "main")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)- (Prior)
- (Thackeray)
- (Ainsworth)