Vast

Pronunciation

• UK enPR: väst, IPA: /vɑːst/
• US IPA: /væst/
• Rhymes: -ɑːst

Origin

From Latin vastus ("void, immense").

Full definition of vast

Adjective

1. Very large or wide (literally or figuratively).The Sahara desert is vast.There is a vast difference between them.
2. Very great in size, amount, degree, intensity, or especially extent.
• 2012, Anna Lena Phillips, Sneaky Silk Moths, Last spring, the periodical cicadas emerged across eastern North America. Their vast numbers and short above-ground life spans inspired awe and irritation in humans—and made for good meals for birds and small mammals.
3. (obsolete) Waste; desert; desolate; lonely.
• William Shakespeare, the Life and Death of Richard the Third Act I, scene IV:the empty, vast, and wandering air

Noun

1. (poetic) A vast space.
• 1608: they have seemed to be together, though absent, shook hands, as over a vast, and embraced, as it were, from the ends of opposed winds. — William Shakespeare, The Winter's Tale, I.i

Derived terms

• vastly
• vastness
• ultravast

Anagrams

• tavs
• vats