major

• majour (obsolete)

• (Received Pronunciation) IPA^(key): /ˈmeɪ.dʒə(ɹ)/
• (General American) enPR: mā'jər, IPA^(key): /ˈmeɪ.dʒɚ/

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• Audio (AU)

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• Hyphenation: ma‧jor
• Rhymes: -eɪdʒə(ɹ)

From French major.

• Maj. (titular abbreviation)
• maj. (nominal abbreviation)

major (plural majors), or, when used as a title before a person's name, Major

1. a military rank between captain and lieutenant colonel

   He used to be a major in the army.

When used as a title, it is always capitalized.

Example: Major Jane Payne.

The rank corresponds to pay grade O-4. Abbreviations: Maj. and MAJ.

• majority
• sergeant-major

From Middle English major, from Latin maior, comparative of magnus (“great”), from Proto-Indo-European *maǵ-yes- (“greater”), comparative of *maǵ-, *meǵ- (“great”). Compare West Frisian majoar (“major”), Dutch majoor (“major”). Doublet of mayor.

major (comparative more major, superlative most major)

1. Of great significance or importance.
   • 2013 June 21, Karen McVeigh, “US rules human genes can't be patented”, in The Guardian Weekly, volume 189, number 2, page 10:

     The US supreme court has ruled unanimously that natural human genes cannot be patented, a decision that scientists and civil rights campaigners said removed a major barrier to patient care and medical innovation.

2. Greater in number, quantity, or extent

   the major part of the assembly

3. Of full legal age, having attained majority
4. (music) Of a scale that follows the pattern: tone - tone - semitone - tone - tone - tone - semitone

   A major scale.

5. (music) Being the larger of two intervals denoted by the same ordinal number.
6. (music) Containing the note a major third (four half steps) above the tonic.

• minor

• majorly

• mage

major (plural majors)

1. (US, Canada, Australia and New Zealand) The main area of study of a student working toward a degree at a college or university.

   Midway through his second year of college, he still hadn't chosen a major.

2. (US, Canada, Australia and New Zealand) A student at a college or university concentrating on a given area of study.

   She is a math major.

3. A person of legal age.
4. (logic) The major premise.
5. (Canadian football) A touchdown, or major score.
6. A large, commercially successful record label, as opposed to an indie.
   • 1997, Billboard (volume 109, number 30, page 86)

     At the end of last year, the band re-signed to XL for another three albums, despite being chased by majors that included Island, says manager Mike Champion of Midi Management.

7. (British slang, dated) An elder brother (especially at a public school).
8. (zoology) A large leaf-cutter ant that acts as a soldier, defending the nest.

• (a person of legal age): minor

major (third-person singular simple present majors, present participle majoring, simple past and past participle majored)

1. (intransitive) to concentrate on a particular area of study as a student in a college or university

   I have decided to major in mathematics.

• joram

From Latin maior.

• (Balearic, Central) IPA^(key): /məˈʒo/
• (Valencian) IPA^(key): /maˈd͡ʒoɾ/

major (masculine and feminine plural majors)

1. larger (superlative: el major / la major—largest)
2. older (superlative: el major / la major—oldest)
3. main, principal
4. (music) major

major m (plural majors)

1. (military rank) major

major m or f (plural majors)

1. of age, adult

major m

1. major (military)

• major in Příruční slovník jazyka českého, 1935–1957
• major in Slovník spisovného jazyka českého, 1960–1971, 1989

Borrowed from German Major, from Spanish, from Latin maior.

major (genitive majori, partitive majorit)

1. major (rank)

• kindralmajor

Ultimately from Latin maior. French military authorities created in 1972 the rank of major (non-commissioned officer), which can easily be confused with the rank of major (officer) used in many countries, creating problems when communicating with allied forces. Doublet of maire and majeur.

• IPA^(key): /ma.ʒɔʁ/

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major m (plural majors)

1. major, the upper rank of French non-commissioned officers

• “major” in le Trésor de la langue française informatisé (The Digitized Treasury of the French Language).

From German [Term?].

• IPA^(key): [ˈmɒjor]
• Hyphenation: ma‧jor

major (plural majorok)

1. farm

• majoros
• majorság

• IPA^(key): /maˈʒor/

major (not comparable)

1. (comparative degree of grande) bigger

major (neuter majus); third declension

1. Alternative form of maior

Third declension, comparative variant

• major in Charlton T. Lewis and Charles Short (1879) A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
• major in Charles du Fresne du Cange’s Glossarium Mediæ et Infimæ Latinitatis (augmented edition, 1883–1887)

• IPA^(key): /ˈma.jɔr/

major m pers (abbreviation mjr)

1. major (military rank)

• major in Polish dictionaries at PWN

major m (plural majores)

1. major (military rank)

From German Major, from Latin māior.

• IPA^(key): /mǎjoːr/
• Hyphenation: ma‧jor

màjōr m (Cyrillic spelling ма̀јо̄р)

1. (military, Serbo-Croatian, Serbo-Croatian) major (rank)

• (Serbo-Croatian): bojnik
• tisućnik

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major c

1. a major[1]
2. a Squadron Leader[1] (in the British Royal Air Force)