• (Received Pronunciation)enPR:mōst,IPA^(key):/ˈməʊst/
• (General American)enPR:mōst,IPA^(key):/ˈmoʊst/
• (Canada)IPA^(key):[ˈmoːst]

• Audio(US):

  (file)

• Rhymes:-əʊst

FromMiddle Englishmost,moste, fromOld Englishmǣst,māst, fromProto-Germanic*maistaz,*maist. Cognate withScotsmast,maist(“most”),Saterland Frisianmaast(“most”),West Frisianmeast(“most”),Dutchmeest(“most”),Germanmeist(“most”),Danish andSwedishmest(“most”),Icelandicmestur(“most”).

• moste(obsolete)

most

1. superlative degree ofmuch.

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

   Most of Wales is mountainous.

2. superlative degree ofmany: the comparatively largest number of (construed with the definite article)

   The team with themost points wins.

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

   Most bakers and dairy farmers have to get up early.

   Winning was not important formost participants.

• (superlative ofmuch): more thanhalf of(in meaning, not grammar),almostall
• (superlative ofmany): themajority of(in meaning, not grammar)

most (notcomparable)

1. Forms thesuperlative of many adjectives.

   Antonym:least

   This is themost important example.

   Correctness ismost important.

   • 1918,W[illiam] B[abington] Maxwell, chapter XII, inThe Mirror and the Lamp, Indianapolis, Ind.:The Bobbs-Merrill Company,→OCLC,page77:

     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 andmost miserable parish in the East End of London.

   • 1921,Ben Travers, chapter 1, inA Cuckoo in the Nest, Garden City, N.Y.:Doubleday, Page & Company, published1925,→OCLC:

     “[…] 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 themost melancholy old folk with malignant diseases.[…]”

2. To a great extent or degree;highly;very.

   This is amost unusual specimen.

   • 1750, “Theodora”, Thomas Morell (lyrics), George Frideric Handel (music)‎^[1]:

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

   • 1851 November 14,Herman Melville, “The Ship”, inMoby-Dick; or, The Whale, 1st American edition, New York, N.Y.:Harper & Brothers; London:Richard Bentley,→OCLC,page77:

     A noble craft, but somehow amost melancholy!

   • 1895 May 29,H[erbert] G[eorge] Wells, “The Palace of Green Porcelain”, inThe Time Machine: An Invention, London:William Heinemann,→OCLC,pages114–115:

     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 amost fortunate, thing.

   • 1922,Ruth Plumly Thompson, “The Last Giant”, inThe Princess of Cozytown, P. F. Volland,page80:

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

3. superlative degree ofmuch
   • 2013 August 3, “Boundary Problems”, inThe Economist‎^[2], volume408, number8847:

     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.

• more

most (notcomparable)

1. (slang,dated) Thegreatest; thebest.
   • 1978 September 14, Jim Jacobs, Warren Casey, Bronte Woodard, directed by Randal Kleiser,Grease‎^[3] (film), spoken by Patty Simcox (Susan Buckner):

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

most

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

   Most want the best for their children.

   The peach was juicier and more flavourful thanmost.

• (greater part): themajority

most (usuallyuncountable,pluralmosts)

1. (uncountable) The greatest amount.

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

2. (countable,uncountable) The greater part.

   Most of the penguins were friendly and curious.

   Most of the rice was spoiled.

   • 1892,Walter Besant, “The Select Circle”, inThe Ivory Gate […], New York, N.Y.:Harper & Brothers, […],→OCLC,page46:

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

   • 1963,Margery Allingham, “Eye Witness”, inThe China Governess: A Mystery, London:Chatto & Windus,→OCLC,page249:

     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, tookmost of them by surprise although they had been well prepared.

   • 2013 August 16,John Vidal, “Dams endanger ecology of Himalayas”, inThe Guardian Weekly, volume189, number10, page 8:

     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.

3. (countable) Arecord-setting amount.
   • 2001, George Barna,Real Teens: A Contemporary Snapshot of Youth Culture,→ISBN, page15:

     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.

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

     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.

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

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

• In the sense ofrecord, used when the positive denotation ofbest does not apply.

Reduction ofalmost.

most (notcomparable)

1. (informal, chieflyUS)Almost.
   • 1998, Bill Zehme,The Way You Wear Your Hat: And the Lost Art of Livin' (page 181)

     A well-daiquiried redhead eyed him from across the room at Jilly's one night in 1963 — although it could have beenmost any night ever[…]

   • 2000,Jewish Baltimore: A Family Album,→ISBN, page159:

     "We walked theremost every day after school."

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

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

This use of the word must precede a noun phrase and is restricted to positive polarity. One would not say  most nobody understands this or  I most fell down climbing up the stairs.

• Thesaurus:quantifier

• “most”, inOneLook Dictionary Search.

• smot,TMOs,MTSO,mots,MOTs,SOTM,toms,Toms

Inherited fromLatinmustum.

• IPA^(key):(Central,Balearic,Valencia)[ˈmost]

most m (pluralmostsormostos)

1. must(fruit juice that will ferment or has fermented)

• “most” inDiccionari de la llengua catalana, segona edició,Institut d’Estudis Catalans.
• “most”, inGran Diccionari de la Llengua Catalana,Grup Enciclopèdia Catalana,2025
• “most” inDiccionari normatiu valencià,Acadèmia Valenciana de la Llengua.
• “most” inDiccionari català-valencià-balear, Antoni Maria Alcover and Francesc de Borja Moll, 1962.

Inherited fromOld Czechmost, fromProto-Slavic*mostъ(“bridge”).

• IPA^(key):[ˈmost]

• Audio:

  (file)

most m inan (diminutivemůstekormostekormostík)

1. bridge

• lávka

• “most”, inPříruční slovník jazyka českého (in Czech),1935–1957
• “most”, inSlovník spisovného jazyka českého (in Czech),1960–1971, 1989
• “most”, inInternetová jazyková příručka (in Czech),2008–2025

FromLatinmustum.

• IPA^(key):/mɔst/

• Audio:

  (file)

• Hyphenation:most
• Rhymes:-ɔst
• Homophone:Most

most m (uncountable,diminutivemostje n)

1. must(unfermented or partiallyfermentedmashedgrapes or rarely other fruits, an early stage in the production ofwine)

FromLatinmustum.

most m (pluralmosts)

1. must (unfermented grape juice or wine)

From the earlierma(“now”), which in modern Hungarian means “today” +-st. For the suffix, comparevalamelyest.^[1]

• IPA^(key):[ˈmoʃt]

• Audio:

  (file)

• Rhymes:-oʃt

most

1. now

It can be suffixed from its (otherwise folksy) variantmostan:mostantól(“from now on”),mostanra(“by now”),mostanig(“until now”), or the latter more commonly formed with-a-,mostanáig(“until now”):

• most inGéza Bárczi,László Országh,et al., editors,A magyar nyelv értelmező szótára [The Explanatory Dictionary of the Hungarian Language] (ÉrtSz.), Budapest: Akadémiai Kiadó, 1959–1962.Fifth ed., 1992:→ISBN.

most m inan (diminutivemosćik)

1. Superseded spelling ofmóst.

most

1. Alternative form ofmust

most

1. second-personsingularpresentindicative ofmoten(“to have to”)

FromMiddle Low Germanmost,must, fromLatinmustum.

most m (definite singularmosten,indefinite pluralmoster,definite pluralmostene)

1. must, (unfermented)fruit juice, particularlygrape juice

• “most” inThe Bokmål Dictionary.
• “most” inDet Norske Akademis ordbok (NAOB).

FromMiddle Low Germanmost,must, fromLatinmustum.

most m (definite singularmosten,indefinite pluralmostar,definite pluralmostane)

1. must, (unfermented)fruit juice, particularlygrape juice

• “most” inThe Nynorsk Dictionary.

Inherited fromProto-Slavic*mostъ.

• IPA^(key):(13^th CE)/ˈmost/
• IPA^(key):(15^th CE)/ˈmost/

most m inan

1. bridge

• Czech:most

• Jan Gebauer (1903–1916) “most”, inSlovník staročeský (in Czech), Prague:Česká grafická společnost "unie",Česká akademie císaře Františka Josefa pro vědy, slovesnost a umění

mōst

1. second-personsingularpresentindicative ofmōtan

FromProto-West Germanic*must.

most m

1. must

• German:Most

Inherited fromProto-Slavic*mȍstъ(“bridge”).

• IPA^(key):/ˈmɔst/

• Audio:

  (file)

• Rhymes:-ɔst
• Syllabification:most

most m inan (diminutivemościk,augmentativemościsko)

1. bridge(building over a river or valley)

• most inWielki słownik języka polskiego, Instytut Języka Polskiego PAN
• most in Polish dictionaries at PWN

Inherited fromProto-Slavic*mostъ(“bridge”).

• IPA^(key):/môːst/

mȏst m (Cyrillic spellingмо̑ст)

1. bridge (construction or natural feature that spans a divide)

• “most”, inHrvatski jezični portal [Croatian language portal] (in Serbo-Croatian),2006–2025

Inherited fromProto-Slavic*mostъ(“bridge”).

• IPA^(key):[mɔst]

• Audio:

  (file)

most m inan (relational adjectivemostnýormostový,diminutivemostíkormôstik)

1. bridge

• “most”, inSlovníkový portál Jazykovedného ústavu Ľ. Štúra SAV [Dictionary portal of the Ľ. Štúr Institute of Linguistics, Slovak Academy of Science] (in Slovak),https://slovnik.juls.savba.sk,2003–2025

FromProto-Slavic*mostъ(“bridge”).

• IPA^(key):/móːst/

mọ̑st m inan

1. bridge (construction or natural feature that spans a divide)

• “most”, inSlovarji Inštituta za slovenski jezik Frana Ramovša ZRC SAZU, portal Fran
• “most”, inTermania, Amebis
• See also thegeneral references

most (nominative pluralmosts)

1. monster