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# major

«major» in Mova's school dictionary: **Very important, big or serious (a major problem, a major…** — its meaning for a pupil, its sense in the lessons and examples, with 1 sentence of Mova's corpora that use it.

### part of speech

adjective (major); noun (a major, majors); verb (major, majors, majored, majoring — US)

### meaning for a pupil

1) Very important, big or serious (a major problem, a major road). [tree →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/M/major/#m1)

2) An army officer of middle rank. [tree →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/M/major/#m2)

3) (music) A major key or scale sounds bright and happy (C major). [tree →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/M/major/#m3)

4) (US, Canada) The main subject a student studies at university, or to study it as the main subject (she majored in maths). [tree →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/M/major/#m4)

5) (informal) Very great (a major fan). [tree →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/M/major/#m5)

### sense in the lessons

In everyday life and news: a major road, major injury, major storm. In music lessons: major and minor keys. In history: Major is an army rank. Phrases: major league (US: top level of a sport), a major part of, major in.

### examples

- There was a major accident on the motorway. [tree →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/M/major/#x1)
- Reading is a major part of our school day. [tree →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/M/major/#x2)
- This song is in C major. [tree →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/M/major/#x3)
- Major Smith led the soldiers. [tree →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/M/major/#x4)
- My cousin is majoring in biology at college (US). [tree →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/M/major/#x5)
- Stay away from major roads when you ride your bike. [tree →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/M/major/#x6)
- I'm a major fan of that band (informal). [tree →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/M/major/#x7)

### note

Opposite: minor (small, less important). Noun: majority (the bigger part). As an army rank, write with a capital M before a name: Major Brown. "Major" is not compared normally ("more major" is informal).

### In the corpora

- [Falls are a major cause of serious injury in older people, and a broken hip can take months to heal.](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/everyday/227-older-people-and-disabilities/25/)

### Trees and pragmatics

[Every meaning and example of «major» parsed by Mova](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/M/major/), each sentence with its dependency tree and frames.