vast

Word family

vast /vɑːst $ væst/ W2 adjectiveadj

1 BIGextremely large 巨大的；广大的；广阔的 SYN huge

vast amounts/numbers/quantities/sums etc (of something)

The government will have to borrow vast amounts of money.

政府将不得不借用巨额资金。

The refugees come across the border in vast numbers.

大量难民涌过边境。

vast areas/expanses/tracts etc (of something)

vast areas of rainforest

大片大片的雨林

In the past five years, there has been a vast improvement in graduation rates.

过去的五年内，毕业率大幅度提高。

► see thesaurus at big

2 the vast majority (of something) MOSTused when you want to emphasize that something is true about almost all of a group of people or things (…的)绝大多数

The vast majority of books on the subject are complete rubbish.

有关这一话题的绝大多数书籍都是一派胡言。

Examples from the Corpus

the vast majority (of something)• However, the vast majority of fans interviewed before the Tampa Bay game were angry, disappointed or a combination of both.• But a young princess can seduce the vast majority of men.• Disability and age While the vast majority of older people are able to live independently, significant minorities experience considerable difficulties.• For the vast majority of people, getting enough fat is nothing to worry about.• To operate the program in this manner would therefore be pointless, since the vast majority of results would remain undecided.• Once the excavation is over, the vast majority of sites revert to the anonymity that they possessed before it started.• The vast majority of the immigrants have settled in the inner cities.• The low proportion with an acquittal outcome probably reflects that the vast majority of these cases involve a guilty plea.• That's why the vast majority of users are attracted to Microsoft Windows by its very simplicity.

—vastness noun [uncountableU]

Examples from the Corpus

vast• These, plus a host of varying expectations, require vast amounts of communication.• a vast area of waste land• Vast areas of the Amazon rainforest have been destroyed.• The karate repertoire has a vast array of technical kicks.• Vast distances separate one isolated community from another.• The United States was too busy exploiting the possibilities of her own vast domestic market.• the vast expanse of the desert• a vast improvement• This is a simple rule, and for 40 years the vast majority of charitable organizations have strictly observed the prohibition.• The refugees arrived in vast numbers from villages all along the border.• Status, and effectively caste, was thus being bought at vast prices.• Vast quantities of food and drink were consumed at the wedding.• Technology is dedicated and therefore vast reductions in cost in the lifetime of a product are not to be expected.

vast areas/expanses/tracts etc (of something)• All is slanted to maintaining the Establishment stranglehold on vast tracts of land for their own selfish playgrounds.• Climate accounts for the alternation of vast areas of grass and trees which inevitably involve different ways of life.• Fortunately for Hippisley, the body was never found, although vast areas of nearby Lambourn Woods were excavated by the townsfolk.• Layers of colour, white, reds and vast expanses of different tones of green.• That vast tracts can be bought and sold as casually as a loaf of bread is immoral.• The North, on the other hand, would have to stretch its supply lines over vast areas of hostile territory.• There were in fact many others, with vast tracts of empty space between them.• Typically, they hunt vast areas to find suitable deposits.

Origin vast

(1500-1600) Latin vastus “empty, desolate, very large”

vast adjectiveadj

Chinese

Corpus