gross Meaning, Definition & Usage

  1. noun twelve dozen
    144.
  2. noun the entire amount of income before any deductions are made
    receipts; revenue.
  3. verb earn before taxes, expenses, etc.
  4. adjective before any deductions
    • gross income
  5. adjective satellite lacking fine distinctions or detail
    • the gross details of the structure appear reasonable
  6. adjective satellite repellently fat
    porcine.
    • a bald porcine old man
  7. adjective satellite visible to the naked eye (especially of rocks and anatomical features)
    megascopic.
  8. adjective satellite without qualification; used informally as (often pejorative) intensifiers
    perfect; double-dyed; complete; arrant; unadulterated; sodding; stark; consummate; pure; utter; thoroughgoing; everlasting; staring.
    • an arrant fool
    • a complete coward
    • a consummate fool
    • a double-dyed villain
    • gross negligence
    • a perfect idiot
    • pure folly
    • what a sodding mess
    • stark staring mad
    • a thoroughgoing villain
    • utter nonsense
    • the unadulterated truth
  9. adjective satellite conspicuously and tastelessly indecent
    crude; earthy; vulgar.
    • coarse language
    • a crude joke
    • crude behavior
    • an earthy sense of humor
    • a revoltingly gross expletive
    • a vulgar gesture
    • full of language so vulgar it should have been edited
  10. adjective satellite conspicuously and outrageously bad or reprehensible
    egregious; flagrant; rank; crying; glaring.
    • a crying shame
    • an egregious lie
    • flagrant violation of human rights
    • a glaring error
    • gross ineptitude
    • gross injustice
    • rank treachery

WordNet

Gross adjective
Etymology
F. gros, L. grossus, perh. fr. L. crassus thick, dense, fat, E. crass, cf. Skr. grathita tied together, wound up, hardened. Cf. Engross, Grocer, Grogram.
Wordforms
comparative Grosser ; superlative Grossest
Definitions
  1. Great; large; bulky; fat; of huge size; excessively large. "A gross fat man." Shak.
    A gross body of horse under the Duke. Milton.
  2. Coarse; rough; not fine or delicate.
  3. Not easily aroused or excited; not sensitive in perception or feeling; dull; witless.
    Tell her of things that no gross ear can hear. Milton.
  4. Expressing, Or originating in, animal or sensual appetites; hence, coarse, vulgar, low, obscene, or impure.
    The terms which are delicate in one age become gross in the next. Macaulay.
  5. Thick; dense; not attenuated; as, a gross medium.
  6. Great; palpable; serious; vagrant; shameful; as, a gross mistake; gross injustice; gross negligence.
  7. Whole; entire; total; without deduction; as, the gross sum, or gross amount, the gross weight; -- opposed to net.
Gross noun
Etymology
F. gros (in sense 1), grosse (in sense 2) See Gross, a.
Definitions
  1. The main body; the chief part, bulk, or mass. "The gross of the enemy." Addison.
    For the gross of the people, they are considered as a mere herd of cattle. Burke.
  2. sing. & pl. The number of twelve dozen; twelve times twelve; as, a gross of bottles; ten gross of pens.

Webster 1913