vast

Vast is an English adjective meaning extremely large in size, extent, or quantity. It describes physical spaces (a vast ocean), distances (vast distances across the plains), or abstract magnitudes (vast wealth, vast knowledge). The term can convey grandeur or awe and is common in formal and literary prose as well as everyday speech. A frequent collocation is vast majority, as in the vast majority of voters supported the measure. Other common phrases include vast expanse, vast area, and vast potential. The noun form vastness refers to the quality or state of being vast.

Etymology: Vast derives from Middle English vast, from Old French vaste, from Latin vastus meaning empty or desolate; the sense evolved from “empty/desolate” to “extensive” in later English. The modern sense emphasizes size or scope rather than emptiness.

Usage notes: Vast is gradable, as in a vast, or even very vast, space; it is typically applied to inanimate things such as landscapes, quantities, or concepts rather than people. It has synonyms such as immense, enormous, extensive, and colossal, each carrying slightly different connotations: immense/enormous emphasize scale, extensive emphasizes breadth, and colossal emphasizes size.

Examples: The vast desert stretched to the horizon. Scientists probed the vastness of space. A vast majority of respondents supported the proposal.

See also: vastness, vastness of space, size, scale.