vast

英[vɑːst] 美[væst]

反义词narrow

比较级: vaster;最高级: vastest;名词: vastness;

vast 辽阔的

来自拉丁语vastus,荒废的，空无的，引申词义辽阔的，无垠的，词源同vain,waste.

vast: vast: [16] Latin vastus originally meant ‘empty, unoccupied, deserted’. The sense ‘huge’, in which English borrowed it, is a secondary semantic development. Another metaphorical route took it to ‘ravaged, destroyed’, in which sense it lies behind English devastate and waste.
=> devastate, waste
vast (adj.): 1570s, "being of great extent or size," from Middle French vaste, from Latin vastus "immense, extensive, huge," also "desolate, unoccupied, empty." The two meanings probably originally attached to two separate words, one with a long -a- one with a short -a-, that merged in early Latin (see waste (v.)). Meaning "very great in quantity or number" is from 1630s; that of "very great in degree" is from 1670s. Very popular early 18c. as an intensifier. Related: Vastly; vastness; vasty.

1. In the cities vast crowds have been demonstrating for change.: 在城市里，大批的人群举行示威游行，要求进行变革。

2. Portugal and Spain had possessed vast empires that waxed and waned.: 葡萄牙和西班牙都曾是经历了兴衰的大帝国。

3. This vast archive has been indexed and made accessible to researchers.: 这个存量巨大的档案室的所有文件都已编了索引，可供研究人员使用。

4. The pollution has already turned vast areas into a wasteland.: 污染已经使大片地区沦为不毛之地。

5. Compact discs have brought about a vast improvement in recorded sound quality.: 激光唱片极大地提高了录音的音质。