grand

Grand is a versatile English word used as an adjective and a noun, signaling size, importance, or ceremony. As an adjective, it means large in size, height, extent, or significance, often carrying a sense of majesty or ceremonial quality: a grand building, a grand plan, a grand ceremony. The sense of importance can imply quality or dignity. The word derives from Old French grand, from Latin grandis meaning large, thick; its use in English dates from the Middle Ages.

As a noun, grand is informal for one thousand units of currency, particularly dollars: “five grand” equals $5,000. It is common in casual speech, business, and media. In music and performance, grand forms part of several compound terms, notably the grand piano, and the grand staff in keyboard notation. In architecture and design, “grand” is used to evoke scale, as in the grand staircase or grand hall. The term also appears in legal and civic phrases such as grand jury, grand opening, and grand prize, signaling formal importance or a large-scale event.

Related terms include grandeur, grandiose, and grandiloquent, which emphasize splendor or overstatement. While sometimes interchangeable with “large” or “magnificent,” grand often connotes ceremonial, formal, or impressive scale rather than mere size. The word’s flexibility allows it to describe both tangible magnitude and abstract stature across many domains.