Megali

Megali is a Greek adjective meaning "great" or "large." It derives from megas ("great") and is used in modern Greek to form compound terms, as well as in personal names and place names. In linguistic and historical contexts, Megali may refer to the concept of grand scale or significance within Greek language and history.

The most prominent usage is in Megali Idea (Μεγάλη Ιδέα), a nationalist doctrine of 19th- and early 20th-century Greece that called for uniting all areas with Greek populations under a single state. The project aimed to incorporate territories historically dominated by Greek culture, including parts of the Ottoman Empire such as Asia Minor, Pontus, and Thrace, as well as Cyprus. The idea guided Greek policy in the late 19th and early 20th centuries and influenced actions during the Balkan Wars and the Greco-Turkish War (1919–1922). The military defeat in 1922 and the subsequent population exchanges diminished its prospects.

Today, Megali is chiefly encountered as a linguistic term within Greek, and as part of proper names or toponyms derived from Greek. It is not a distinct political program in contemporary Greece, though the term remains important in historical discussions of nationalism and regional history.