most

alternative obsolete moste

1. superlativesuperlative degree of much.

   I spent most time in Rome because most of Venice is flooded.

   1 more example

   The teams competed to see who could collect (the) most money.

   Synonyms: more than half of, all

2. superlativesuperlative degree of many: the comparatively largest number of (construed with the definite article)

   The team with the most points wins.

3. superlativesuperlative degree of many: the majority of; more than half of (construed without the definite article)

   Winning was not important for most participants.

   1 more example

   Most bakers and dairy farmers have to get up early.

alternative obsolete moste

1. not comparableForms the superlative of many adjectives.

   Correctness is most important.

   4 more examples

   This is the most important example.

   Much the most common verb in complex-intransitive clauses is be.

   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.

   1918, W[illiam] B[abington] Maxwell, chapter XII, in The Mirror and the Lamp, Indianapolis, Ind.: The Bobbs-Merrill Company, →OCLC, page 77

   “[…] the awfully hearty sort of Christmas cards that people do send to other people that they don't know at all well. You know. The kind that have mottoes[…]. And then, when you see [the senders], you probably find that they are the most melancholy old folk with malignant diseases. […]”

   1921, Ben Travers, chapter 1, in A Cuckoo in the Nest, Garden City, N.Y.: Doubleday, Page & Company, published 1925, →OCLC

   Antonyms: least

   1. not comparableproscribedWith a superlative adjective ending in -est.

      the most tallest building in the world

      Antonyms: least

2. not comparableTo a great extent or degree; highly; very.

   This is a most unusual specimen.

   4 more examples

   Most cruel edict! Sure, thy generous soul, Septimius, abhors the dreadful task of persecution.

   1750, “Theodora”, Thomas Morell (lyrics), George Frideric Handel (music)

   A noble craft, but somehow a most melancholy!

   1851 November 14, Herman Melville, “The Ship”, in Moby-Dick; or, The Whale, 1st American edition, New York, N.Y.: Harper & Brothers; London: Richard Bentley, →OCLC, page 77

   Now, I still think that for this box of matches to have escaped the wear of time for immemorial years was a most strange, as for me it was a most fortunate, thing.

   1895 May 29, H[erbert] G[eorge] Wells, “The Palace of Green Porcelain”, in The Time Machine: An Invention, London: William Heinemann, →OCLC, pages 114–115

   “His song is most unpleasant,” said the King rubbing his head, “pray bid him cease,” and off went the secretary to argue with the wind.

   1922, Ruth Plumly Thompson, “The Last Giant”, in The Princess of Cozytown, P. F. Volland, page 80

3. not comparablesuperlativesuperlative degree of much

   Economics is a messy discipline: too fluid to be a science, too rigorous to be an art. Perhaps it is fitting that economists’ most-used metric, gross domestic product (GDP), is a tangle too.

   2013 August 3, “Boundary Problems”, in The Economist, volume 408, number 8847

alternative obsolete moste

1. datednot comparableslangThe greatest; the best.

   PATTY:They announced this year's nominees for student council. And guess who's up for vice-president? Me! Isn't that the most to say the least?

   1978 September 14, Jim Jacobs, Warren Casey, Bronte Woodard, directed by Randal Kleiser, Grease (film), spoken by Patty Simcox (Susan Buckner)

alternative obsolete moste

1. The greater part of a group, especially a group of people.

   Most want the best for their children.

   1 more example

   The peach was juicier and more flavourful than most.

   Synonyms: the majority

plural mosts · alternative obsolete moste

1. uncountableusuallyThe greatest amount.

   The most I can offer for the house is $150,000.

2. countableuncountableusuallyThe greater part.

   Most of the rice was spoiled.

   4 more examples

   Most of the penguins were friendly and curious.

   At half-past nine on this Saturday evening the parlor of the Salutation Inn, High Holborn, contained most of its customary visitors.[…]In former days every tavern of repute kept such a room for the select circle—a club, or society, of habitués, who met every evening for a pipe and a cheerful glass.

   1892, Walter Besant, “The Select Circle”, in The Ivory Gate […], New York, N.Y.: Harper & Brothers, […], →OCLC, page 46

   The story struck the depressingly familiar note with which true stories ring in the tried ears of experienced policemen.[…]The second note, the high alarum, not so familiar and always important since it indicates the paramount sin in Man's private calendar, took most of them by surprise although they had been well prepared.

   1963, Margery Allingham, “Eye Witness”, in The China Governess: A Mystery, London: Chatto & Windus, →OCLC, page 249

   Most of the Himalayan rivers have been relatively untouched by dams near their sources. Now the two great Asian powers, India and China, are rushing to harness them as they cut through some of the world's deepest valleys.

   2013 August 16, John Vidal, “Dams endanger ecology of Himalayas”, in The Guardian Weekly, volume 189, number 10, page 8

3. countableusuallyA record-setting amount.

   The record of Elvis' achievement is truly remarkable; his list of “firsts” and “mosts” is probably without parallel in music and entertainment history.

   2007, Joe Moscheo, The Gospel Side of Elvis, →ISBN

   2 more examples

   Along with their massive size will come other “mosts”: they will likely be the longest living, the best educated, the wealthiest and the most wired/ wireless.

   2001, George Barna, Real Teens: A Contemporary Snapshot of Youth Culture, →ISBN, page 15

   Virginia had a number of "mosts” that made it appealing, if not representative of all Confederate states: the most citizens among the Southern states; the most slaves; the most men under arms; the most famous Southern generals; the most fighting within its borders; the most divided by the war (what other Southern state lost a quarter of its territory and saw a new state created out of that former territory?); and the most damaged by the war.

   2002, John Gregory Selby, Virginians at War: The Civil War Experiences of Seven Young Confederates, →ISBN, page xvii

1. USabbreviationclippinginformalnot comparableClipping of almost.

   "We walked there most every day after school."

   2000, Jewish Baltimore: A Family Album, →ISBN, page 159

   2 more examples

   Random illustration: A well-daiquiried redhead eyed him from across the room at Jilly’s one night in 1963 — although it could have been most any night ever —[…]

   1997, Bill Zehme, The Way You Wear Your Hat: Frank Sinatra and the Lost Art of Livin’, →ISBN, page 142; republished Thorndike, Maine: Thorndike Press, 1998, →ISBN, page 181

   “Can't be all that bad if Luke likes it. Most everywhere has air-conditioning, he says.”

   2011, Charlotte Maclay, Wanted: A Dad to Brag About, →ISBN