# mass

Pronunciation: say "MAS" /mæs/

## Adjective

1. Involving, affecting, or done by large numbers of people or things, as in mass media, mass production, or mass protest.
   - Simple: Involving a very large number of people or things.
   - _Television opened the door to mass communication with millions at once._
   - _The movement depended on mass participation from ordinary citizens._

## Noun

2. A measure of how much matter an object contains and of how strongly it resists changes in its motion, one of the fundamental properties of matter.
   - Simple: A measure of how much matter an object has, which is part of why it feels heavy.
   - _The scientists measured the mass of the sample in grams._
   - _An object's mass stays the same whether it sits on Earth or the Moon._
3. A quantity of matter that coheres into a single body, or a collection of particles or things that together form one large body.
   - Simple: A big lump of matter that holds together as one body, or many bits gathered into one.
   - _A dense mass of clay blocked the bottom of the drainpipe._
   - _The volcano hurled a glowing mass of molten rock into the air._
4. The Christian religious service that celebrates the Eucharist.
   - Simple: A Christian church service in which bread and wine are blessed and shared.
   - _The cathedral holds Mass three times each Sunday._
   - _She attended midnight Mass on Christmas Eve._
5. A large quantity or amount of something, or a large number of people or things considered together as one body.
   - Simple: A large amount of something, or many people or things together.
   - _A mass of fans surged toward the stage as the band appeared._
   - _By noon the square had filled with a mass of protesters._
6. The common people of the lower social classes, regarded collectively as a single body.
   - Simple: Ordinary people of the lower social classes, seen as one large group.
   - _The reformers claimed to speak for the masses long ignored by the rich._
   - _Politicians promised cheap housing to win the support of the masses._
7. Added body bulk, especially the muscle gained through strength training.
   - Simple: Extra muscle that a person builds up through hard training.
   - _The trainer designed a program to add lean mass over the winter._
   - _Serious lifters track their mass gains week by week._
8. An abnormal lump or growth in the body that can be felt or seen, such as a tumor.
   - Simple: A lump in the body that should not be there.
   - _An ultrasound revealed a mass near the patient's kidney._
   - _Surgeons removed the mass and sent it away for testing._
11. The chief part of something, making up its main body.
   - Simple: The largest and most important part of something.
   - _The mass of the manuscript concerns the author's early travels._
   - _The mass of the estate passed to the eldest son._
10. The bulk, size, or magnitude of something considered as a whole.
   - Simple: The size or amount of something, especially when it is large.
   - _The mass of the old fortress gives it an imposing presence._
   - _Visitors are struck by the mass of the redwood trunks._
12. Physical matter or material: the substance that things are made of.
   - Simple: The physical stuff that things are made of.
   - _A steady wind of charged particles carries mass away from the sun into space._
   - _When a log burns, no mass is destroyed; it simply leaves as smoke, gas, and ash._
13. A musical composition setting the sung parts of the church service to music.
   - Simple: A piece of music written for the words of a church mass.
   - _The orchestra accompanied a soaring mass by Beethoven._
   - _Music students studied the structure of a Baroque mass._

## Verb

9. To form or collect into a single body or large group; to assemble.
   - Simple: To gather or come together into one large group.
   - _Troops began to mass along the border at dawn._
   - _Dark clouds massed over the hills before the storm broke._

## Verb

14. To celebrate or perform the Eucharistic church service. *(obsolete)*
   - Simple: To carry out the main Christian church service.

## Noun

15. Precious metal, especially gold or silver, considered as raw material. *(obsolete)*
   - Simple: Valuable metal, especially gold or silver, in a solid lump.

## Other meanings

- (noun) A medicinal substance worked into a soft, even lump of the right consistency for forming pills.

## Origin

**Meanings 1–3, 5–12, 15** — Late Latin massa ("lump, dough") goes back to Ancient Greek mâza, a "barley-cake" or "lump of dough," which may be based on mássō, a verb meaning "to knead", though this is uncertain. The word reached English through Anglo-Norman and Old French and shows up in late Middle English, around 1400, as masse, meaning "lump, quantity of matter." The meaning "a large number" dates from around 1580, and the scientific meaning from 1687 as Latin massa in Isaac Newton's work, with the first English use in 1704.
**Meanings 4, 13–14** — The source is Latin mittere ("to send"), by way of the closing words of the Roman Rite, ite, missa est, meaning "go, the assembly is dismissed." Late Latin missa became Vulgar Latin *messa, and the word reached English both as Old English mæsse, meaning "church festival, the mass," and through Old French messe, ending up as Middle English messe. German Messe and Dutch mis are comparable words.

Source: DictionaryAI, https://dictionaryai.com/define/mass (written from Wiktionary data, CC BY-SA 4.0: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/).