# vast

Pronunciation: US say "VAST" /væst/; UK say "VAHST" /vɑːst/

## Adjective

1. Exceptionally great, particularly in extent but also in size, amount, degree, or intensity.
   - Simple: Extremely great in size, amount, or how far something reaches.
   - _The reforms affected a vast number of small businesses._
   - _Telescopes reveal the vast scale of the observable universe._
2. Very large or wide, whether in actual space or in a figurative sense.
   - Simple: Very large or very wide, either in real space or as an idea.
   - _The ranch spread across a vast tract of open grassland._
   - _There is a vast gulf between his promises and his actions._

## Noun

3. An immense, seemingly boundless expanse of space. *(literary)*
   - Simple: A huge open space that feels endless.
   - _The astronaut drifted alone through the vast of space._
   - _His verses summon the silent vast of the northern tundra._

## Adjective

4. Desolate and uninhabited; wild, waste, and lonely. *(obsolete)*
   - Simple: Empty, lonely, and wild, like land where no one lives.

## Origin

From Middle French vaste, from Latin vastus ('void, immense'). It is related to the English word 'waste' and to German Wüste.

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