vast

From Middle French vaste, from Latin vastus (“void, immense”). Related to waste and German Wüste.

• (Received Pronunciation) enPR: väst, IPA^(key): /vɑːst/
• (Northern England, Scotland) IPA^(key): /vast/
• (US) IPA^(key): /væst/

  • Audio (US):

    (file)

• Rhymes: -æst, -ɑːst

vast (comparative vaster or more vast, superlative vastest or most vast)

1. Very large or wide (literally or figuratively).

   The Sahara desert is vast.

   There is a vast difference between them.

2. Very great in size, amount, degree, intensity, or especially extent.
   • 1658, Thomas Browne, “The Garden of Cyrus. […]. Chapter III.”, in Hydriotaphia, Urne-buriall, […] Together with The Garden of Cyrus, […], London: […] Hen[ry] Brome […], →OCLC, page 136:

     The exiguity and ſmallneſſe of ſome ſeeds extending to large productions is one of the magnalities of nature, ſomewhat illuſtrating the work of the Creation, and vaſt production from nothing.

   • 1951 October, R. S. McNaught, “Lines of Approach”, in Railway Magazine, page 703:

     Another place where, from the aesthetic point of view, a long tunnel would have been a real blessing, is East London as viewed from the carriage window on the old Great Eastern line. Despite a vast change from crowded slums to tracts of wasteland, due to its grim wartime experience, this approach still provides a shabby and unworthy introduction to the great capital.

   • 2012 March-April, Anna Lena Phillips, “Sneaky Silk Moths”, in American Scientist‎^[1], volume 100, number 2, page 172:

     Last spring, the periodical cicadas emerged across eastern North America. Their vast numbers and short above-ground life spans inspired awe and irritation in humans—and made for good meals for birds and small mammals.

3. (obsolete) Waste; desert; desolate; lonely.
   • c. 1593 (date written), William Shakespeare, “The Tragedy of Richard the Third: […]”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, [Act I, scene iv]:

     the empty, vast, and wandering air

vast (plural vasts)

1. (poetic) A vast space.
   • c. 1610–1611 (date written), William Shakespeare, “The Winters Tale”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, [Act I, scene i]:

     they have seemed to be together, though absent, shook hands, as over a vast, and embraced, as it were, from the ends of opposed winds.

• ATVs, tavs, VTAs, vats, VSAT

From Latin vāstus.

• IPA^(key): (Central) [ˈbast]
• IPA^(key): (Balearic, Valencia) [ˈvast]

vast (feminine vasta, masculine plural vasts or vastos, feminine plural vastes)

1. vast, wide

• vastitud

• “vast”, in Diccionari de la llengua catalana [Dictionary of the Catalan Language] (in Catalan), second edition, Institute of Catalan Studies [Catalan: Institut d'Estudis Catalans], April 2007
• “vast”, in Gran Diccionari de la Llengua Catalana, Grup Enciclopèdia Catalana, 2025
• “vast” in Diccionari normatiu valencià, Acadèmia Valenciana de la Llengua.
• “vast” in Diccionari català-valencià-balear, Antoni Maria Alcover and Francesc de Borja Moll, 1962.

• IPA^(key): /vɑst/

• Audio:

  (file)

• Hyphenation: vast
• Rhymes: -ɑst

From Middle Dutch vast, from Old Dutch fast, from Proto-West Germanic *fastī, from Proto-Germanic *fastuz.

vast (comparative vaster, superlative meest vast or vastst)

1. firm, fast, tight
2. fixed, not moving or changing

   Kunnen we de vaste lasten dragen? ― Can we sustain the fixed costs?

3. stuck, unable to get out

   Haar hand zat vast in het gat. ― Her hand was stuck in the hole.

4. (chemistry) in the solid state

   Bij kamertemperatuur is het een vaste stof. ― It is a solid substance at room temperature.

5. (botany) perennial

   Hij heeft een aantal vaste planten gepoot. ― He has planted a few perennial plants.

6. (of a telephone) using a landline

   Is er een vaste verbinding? ― Is there a landline connection?

• Afrikaans: vas
• Berbice Creole Dutch: vasi
• Negerhollands: vast, vas
• →? Sranan Tongo: fasi, fasti
  • → Caribbean Javanese: pasi, fasi

vast

1. (obsolete) almost; about; close to
2. surely, certainly

   Synonym: zeker

   vast en zeker ― most certainly

3. (informal, sarcastically) sure, yeah, right

   Mijn hond at mijn huiswerk. — Ja, vast!

   My dog ate my homework. — Yeah, right!

See the etymology of the corresponding lemma form.

vast

1. inflection of vasten:
   1. first/second/third-person singular present indicative
   2. imperative

From Proto-Finnic *vasta, from Proto-Finno-Permic *wasta (“a place opposite or across”). Cognate to Finnish vasta, Votic vassõ, Northern Sami vuostá, Erzya вастомс (vastoms, “to meet; to receive”), Moksha васта (vasta, “place; distance”) and possibly Western Mari ваштареш (vaštareš, “against; across”).^[1]

vast (not comparable)

1. maybe, possibly

   Synonyms: ehk, vahest, võib-olla

2. recently, just, now

   Synonyms: äsja, just, nüüdsama, alles

From Proto-Finnic *vasta. Cognates include Finnish vasta and Estonian vast.

• (Ala-Laukaa) IPA^(key): /ˈʋɑstɑ/, [ˈʋɑs̠t]
• (Soikkola) IPA^(key): /ˈʋɑst/, [ˈʋɑʃt]
• Rhymes: -ɑst
• Hyphenation: vast
• Homophone: vasta

vast

1. just now

• ikkee, vastikkää

vast (+ partitive)

1. against, towards

• Ruben E. Nirvi (1971) Inkeroismurteiden Sanakirja, Helsinki: Suomalais-Ugrilainen Seura, page 645

From Proto-Finnic *vasta, from Proto-Finno-Permic *wasta (“a place opposite or across”). Cognate with Finnish vasta-, vastaan, vasten.

vast

1. against

Probably borrowed from Old East Slavic хвостъ (xvostŭ); see vasta.

vast

1. bundle (of switches for the sauna)

vast

1. second-person singular past active indicative of vera

Inherited from Sauraseni Prakrit 𑀳𑀢𑁆𑀣 (hattha), from Sanskrit हस्त (hásta).^[1] Cognate with Gujarati હાથ (hāth), Marwari and Nimadi हाथ (hāth), Sindhi هَٿُ (hatu).

vast m (nominative plural vasta)

1. (anatomy) hand

   Kamav te ćumidav laqo vast.

   I want to kiss her hand.

• del vast

• Boretzky, Norbert, Igla, Birgit (1994) “vast”, in Wörterbuch Romani-Deutsch-Englisch für den südosteuropäischen Raum : mit einer Grammatik der Dialektvarianten [Romani-German-English dictionary for the Southern European region] (in German), Wiesbaden: Harrassowitz Verlag, →ISBN, page 297
• Marcel Courthiade (2009) “o vast, -es- m. -a, -en-”, in Melinda Rézműves, editor, Morri angluni rromane ćhibǎqi evroputni lavustik = Első rromani nyelvű európai szótáram : cigány, magyar, angol, francia, spanyol, német, ukrán, román, horvát, szlovák, görög [My First European-Romani Dictionary: Romani, Hungarian, English, French, Spanish, German, Ukrainian, Romanian, Croatian, Slovak, Greek] (overall work in Hungarian and English), Budapest: Fővárosi Onkormányzat Cigány Ház--Romano Kher, →ISBN, page 373

Borrowed from French vaste, from Latin vastus.

• Audio:

  (file)

vast m or n (feminine singular vastă, masculine plural vaști, feminine and neuter plural vaste)

1. vast

• vastitate

Probably borrowed from Old East Slavic хвостъ (xvostŭ); see vasta.

vast

1. broom, whisk
2. bath broom