mass (masses plural & 3rd person present) (massing present participle) (massed past tense & past participle )
1 n-sing A massof things is a large number of them grouped together.
N of n
On his desk is a mass of books and papers.
2 n-sing A massof something is a large amount of it.
N of n
She had a mass of auburn hair.
3 quant Massesof something means a great deal of it.
INFORMAL QUANT of n-uncount/pl-n
There's masses of work for her to do..., It has masses of flowers each year.
4 adj Mass is used to describe something which involves or affects a very large number of people.
ADJ n
...ideas on combating mass unemployment..., ...weapons of mass destruction.
5 n-count A massof a solid substance, a liquid, or a gas is an amount of it, especially a large amount which has no definite shape.
oft N of n
...before it cools and sets into a solid mass..., The fourteenth century cathedral was reduced to a mass of rubble.
6 n-plural If you talk about the masses, you mean the ordinary people in society, in contrast to the leaders or the highly educated people.
the N
His music is commercial. It is aimed at the masses...
7 n-sing Themassof people are most of the people in a country, society, or group.
the N of n
(=bulk, majority)
The 1939-45 world war involved the mass of the population...
8 verb When people or things mass, or when you mass them, they gather together into a large crowd or group.
(=gather)
Shortly after the workers went on strike, police began to mass at the shipyard... V
The General was massing his troops for a counterattack. V n
9 n-sing If you say that something is amass of things, you mean that it is covered with them or full of them.
N of n
In the spring, the meadow is a mass of daffodils.
10 n-var In physics, the mass of an object is the amount of physical matter that it has. (TECHNICAL)
Astronomers know that Pluto and Triton have nearly the same size, mass, and density.
11 n-var Mass is a Christian church ceremony, especially in a Roman Catholic or Orthodox church, during which people eat bread and drink wine in order to remember the last meal of Jesus Christ.
She attended a convent school and went to Mass each day.
12 →
massed →
critical mass →
land mass
critical mass
1 n-sing In physics, the critical mass of a substance is the minimum amount of it that is needed for a nuclear chain reaction. (TECHNICAL) also no det
2 n-sing A critical mass of something is an amount of it that makes it possible for something to happen or continue.
also no det
Only in this way can the critical mass of participation be reached.
high mass , High Mass
High mass is a church service held in a Catholic church in which there is more ceremony than in an ordinary mass. n-uncount
land mass (land masses plural ), landmass A land mass is a very large area of land such as a continent. n-count
...the Antarctic landmass., ...the country's large land mass of 768 million hectares.
mass market (mass markets plural )
1 n-count Mass market is used to refer to the large numbers of people who want to buy a particular product. (BUSINESS)
They now have access to the mass markets of Japan and the UK.
2 adj Mass-market products are designed and produced for selling to large numbers of people. (BUSINESS) ADJ n
...mass-market paperbacks.
mass media
You can use the mass media to refer to the various ways, especially television, radio, newspapers, and magazines, by which information and news are given to large numbers of people. n-sing-coll usu the N
...mass media coverage of the issue.
mass murder (mass murders plural )Mass murder is the deliberate illegal killing of a large number of people by a person or an organization. n-var
mass murderer (mass murderers plural )A mass murderer is someone who deliberately kills a large number of people illegally. n-count
mass noun (mass nouns plural )
1 n-count A mass noun is a noun such as `wine' which is usually uncount but is used with `a' or `an' or used in the plural when it refers to types of that substance, as in `a range of Australian wines'.
2 n-count In some descriptions of grammar, a mass noun is the same as an uncount noun.
mass-produce (mass-produces 3rd person present) (mass-producing present participle) (mass-produced past tense & past participle )If someone mass-produces something, they make it in large quantities, usually by machine. This means that the product can be sold cheaply. (BUSINESS) verb
...the invention of machinery to mass-produce footwear. V n
mass-produced adj ADJ n
...the first mass-produced mountain bike.
mass production , mass-production
Mass production is the production of something in large quantities, especially by machine. (BUSINESS) n-uncount oft N of n
...equipment that would allow the mass production of baby food.
