Definition of "major"

(attributive)

1. Greater in dignity, rank, importance, significance, or interest.  quotations  examples

   Quotations

   • 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.

     2013 June 13, Karen McVeigh, “US supreme court rules human genes cannot be patented”, in The Guardian Weekly‎, volume 189, number 2, page 10

2. Greater in number, quantity, or extent.  examples

3. Notable or conspicuous in effect or scope.  examples

4. Prominent or significant in size, amount, or degree.  examples

5. (medicine) Involving great risk, serious, life-threatening.  examples

Of full legal age, having attained majority.  examples

(education) Of or relating to a subject of academic study chosen as a field of specialization.  examples

(music)

1. Having intervals of a semitone between the third and fourth, and seventh and eighth degrees. (of a scale)  examples

2. Equivalent to that between the tonic and another note of a major scale, and greater by a semitone than the corresponding minor interval. (of an interval)

   1. Having a major third above the root.  examples

3. (postpositive) (of a key) Based on a major scale, tending to produce a bright or joyful effect.  examples

4. (campanology) Bell changes rung on eight bells.

(UK, dated) Indicating the elder of two brothers, appended to a surname in public schools.  examples

(logic)

1. Occurring as the predicate in the conclusion of a categorical syllogism. (of a term)  examples

2. Containing the major term in a categorical syllogism. (of a premise)  examples

(military) A rank of officer in the army and the US air force, between captain and lieutenant colonel.

1. An officer in charge of a section of band instruments, used with a modifier.  examples

A person of legal age.  examples

(music)

1. Ellipsis of major key.  examples

2. Ellipsis of major interval.  examples

3. Ellipsis of major scale.  examples

4. (campanology) A system of change-ringing using eight bells.

A large, commercially successful company, especially a record label that is bigger than an indie.  quotations  examples

(education, Canada, US, Australia, New Zealand) The principal subject or course of a student working toward a degree at a college or university.

1. A student at a college or university specializing on a given area of study.  examples

(logic)

1. Ellipsis of major term.  examples

2. Ellipsis of major premise.  examples

(bridge) Ellipsis of major suit.  examples

(Canadian football) A touchdown, or major score.  examples

(Australian rules football) A goal.  examples

(British slang, dated) An elder brother (especially at a public school).

(entomology) A large leaf-cutter ant that acts as a soldier, defending the nest.

(obsolete) Alternative form of mayor and mair.

(intransitive) Used in a phrasal verb: major in.  examples