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major

  (mā'jər) pronunciation
adj.
  1. Greater than others in importance or rank: a major artist.
  2. Great in scope or effect: a major improvement.
  3. Great in number, size, or extent: the major portion of the population.
  4. Requiring great attention or concern; very serious: a major illness.
  5. Law. Having attained full legal age.
  6. Of or relating to the field of academic study in which a student specializes.
  7. Music.
    1. Designating a scale or mode having half steps between the third and fourth and the seventh and eighth degrees.
    2. Equivalent to the distance between the tonic note and the second or third or sixth or seventh degrees of a major scale or mode: a major interval.
    3. Based on a major scale: a major key.
n.
    1. (Abbr. MAJ or Maj or Maj.) A commissioned rank in the U.S. Army, Air Force, or Marine Corps that is above captain and below lieutenant colonel.
    2. One who holds this rank.
  2. One that is superior in rank, importance, or ability: an oil-producing country considered as one of the majors.
  3. Law. One who has reached full legal age.
    1. A field of study chosen as an academic specialty.
    2. A student specializing in such studies: a linguistics major.
  5. Logic.
    1. A major premise.
    2. A major term.
  6. Music.
    1. A major scale, key, interval, or mode.
    2. A chord containing a major third between the first and second notes and a minor third between the second and third notes.
  7. majors Sports. The major leagues.
intr.v., -jored, -jor·ing, -jors.

To pursue academic studies in a major: majoring in mathematics.

[Middle English majour, from Latin māior.]


 
 
Thesaurus: major

adjective

  1. Being among the leaders in one's field: blue-chip, major-league. Informal big-league, bigtime, heavyweight. See important/unimportant.
  2. Most important, influential, or significant: capital, cardinal, chief, first, foremost, key, leading, main, number one, paramount, premier, primary, prime, principal, top. See important/unimportant.

 
Antonyms: major

adj

Definition: bigger
Antonyms: lesser, little, minor, small

adj

Definition: important
Antonyms: insignificant, minor, unimportant

 
US Military Dictionary: major

n. an army officer of high rank, in particular (in the U.S. Army, Air Force, and Marine Corps) an officer ranking above captain and below lieutenant colonel. Etymology: shortening of sergeant major, formerly a high rank.

See the Introduction, Abbreviations and Pronunciation for further details.

 
Music Encyclopedia: Major

(1) The name given to a scale whose octave species is built of the following ascending sequence of intervals: T-T-S-T-T-T-S (T = tone, S = semitone). The note chosen to begin the sequence, the key note, becomes part of the name of the scale, i.e.the scale beginning on C is the scale of C major. A piece or passage whose melodic basis is a major scale (say, that on C) and whose harmonic basis is the major triad on the key note of that scale is said to be ‘in C major’.

(2) A major Interval is any one that can be reckoned between the key note of a major scale and a higher note in that scale, other than those called ‘perfect’ (the 4th, 5th and octave). A major Triad is a three-note chord which, reckoned from the lowest note, is built of a major 3rd and a perfect 5th.


 
Music: Major

"Greater". A term used to describe certain intervals (seconds, thirds, sixths and sevenths), chords and the Ionian Mode.

 
Marine Corps Dictionary: Major

The fourth grade of commissioned officer and first of the field grades is indicated by a gold oak leaf on the collar points. The pay grade is O-4 and is the same in the Army and Air Force. In the Navy and Coast Guard the rank is lieutenant commander and is additionally indicated with two broad bands of gold with one narrow band between them topped with an insignia representing the branch to which the officer is assigned (most often a gold star in the Navy) or a gold shield in the Coast Guard.

 
Word Tutor: major
pronunciation

IN BRIEF: Greater in size, importance or amount. Also: A military officer ranking just above a captain.

pronunciation The major value in life is not what you get. The major value in life is what you become. — Jim Rohn

 
Wikipedia: major
This article is about the military rank. For other uses, see Major (disambiguation).
Common Military Ranks
Navies
(English-speaking
world)		 Armies and
some Air Forces		 Air Forces
(Commonwealth)
Admiral of the Fleet Field Marshal Marshal of the Air Force
Admiral General Air Chief Marshal
Commodore Brigadier Air Commodore
Captain Colonel Group Captain
Commander Lieutenant Colonel Wing Commander
Lieutenant Commander Major Squadron Leader
Lieutenant Captain Flight Lieutenant
Sub-Lieutenant Lieutenant Flying Officer
Warrant Officer Warrant Officer Warrant Officer
Petty Officer Sergeant Sergeant
Leading Rate Corporal Corporal
Seaman Private Aircraftman

Major is a military rank the use of which varies according to country. Moreover, Major frequently denotes a mid-level command status officer (immediately superior to the rank of Captain and immediately subordinate to the rank of Lieutenant Colonel), however in some armies major is essentially a senior NCO (non-commissioned officer), a usage derived from "sergeant-major".

Early history

In considering terms of rank it is important to understand that the early evolution of the terms often was outside of English, and that the term always has been of essentially international distribution. In general European usage, the rank of Major originates from Romance comparative adjectives with the sense of Latin maior (also spelled major), meaning 'senior' and 'greater'. Historically all Majors, Sergeants Major, and Major Generals (to use English forms) derive from the rank, or rather the office of Sergeant Major. The Sergeant Major was the senior sergeant responsible for marshalling a battalion of pike. He was presumably the senior Company Sergeant from among the companies providing the pikemen, or at least a commissioned officer considered analogous to such a non-commissioned officer (sergeant). Hence, Major is an abbreviation of Sergeant Major: the (Sergeant) Major 'the senior sergeant'. This is obscured in French and English, by the later evolution of a separate, non-commissioned rank called sergent major or Sergeant Major. Similarly, the rank of Major General is truncated from original Sergeant Major General 'the sergeant major or sergeant major-like soldier with general authority over the marshalling of the whole army'. Originally, there existed a single Sergeant Major General in each major field force.

The original usage is illustrated in the first recorded(?) English (1643) attestation, as "Sergeant-Major", 'the third-in-command of a regiment'. The early German equivalent was Feld Wachtmeister, in which Feld functions as major and Wachtmeister ('watch master' or 'quarter[-ing] master') is the more commonly used term for a cavalry sergeant. Similarly we early on find Spanish Majors referred to Sargento Major.

In several European navies, the rank of Major was used in the sense or form "Pilot-Major" to denote the senior deck officer of a vessel in contrast to the Captain (or Captain General) who was typically an Army officer, with little naval knowledge, assigned to command the mission on which a vessel was embarked. The English equivalent of this usage is Master, as opposed to the Captain or Commander.

In the Spanish navy of the 16th and 17th centuries, the captain's principal seaman was the "maestre" (master) who was responsible for the maritime operation of the ship. Next in the chain of command was the "piloto" (pilot) responsible for the safe navigation of the ship. A flagship's pilot was the "piloto mayor" (chief or major pilot) who determined the course of the whole squadron. [1]

NOTES: 1. "Spanish Galleon 1530-1690" by Angus Konstam, copyright 2004 Osprey Publishing Ltd.

Officer rank

In most comparative military scales a Major is a senior officer ranking above company grade ranks that usually include captain and between one and three lower subaltern officer ranks. In the NATO rank code, Major as a Level 3 officer. The naval equivalent to a Major is, in some nations, the rank of Lieutenant Commander.

By the time of the English Civil War, Major had become a rank in itself, and was assigned to mid-level officers on the battlefield, and was most often used by those serving as aides to a superior General.

The rank of Major General arose during the 18th century, and was a shortening of the rank Sergeant Major General.

By the 19th century, the rank of Major was being used by nearly every English-speaking military, and some others. It quickly developed into a senior staff position, and was seen as the first of the "command" or "field" ranks, in contrast to the rank of Captain and below, which were regarded as "company ranks".

Non-commissioned rank

In the French military, a major is the most senior non-commissioned rank. This rank can only be awarded by senior NCO (adjudants-chefs), after a very selective exam. Officially it is not a non-commissioned rank, but an intermediate rank between non-commissioned and commissioned.

Use as a suffix

The rank of Major may still be found in its original form as a suffix (either hyphenated or not), to denote an officer more senior to the base rank. As a suffix, major derives from a comparative adjective major 'greater' and 'senior' following the modified Romance language noun; e.g. Adjutant-Major, and Colonel-Major. It is also still commonly used in the rank of Sergeant Major, and is also used in ceremonial appointments such as Drum-Major and Pipe-Major.

In Argentina, the armed forces all use the rank of sub-officer-major as the highest non-commissioned rank. The army and air force also use the officer rank of major. The army has a rank of colonel-major, but this is essentially an automatic promotion for long-serving colonels rather than a functional rank in its own right. The Argentine National Gendarmerie uses the rank of commandant-major, which is roughly equivalent to a colonel or chief superintendent in the commonwealth.

It is similarly still used as a prefix for the General officer rank of Major-General, which is similarly used in many other languages (e.g. Generaal-Majoor in Dutch).

Links to Major ranks by country

Links to ranks equivalent to Major by country

See also

Sources and references


This entry is from Wikipedia, the leading user-contributed encyclopedia. It may not have been reviewed by professional editors (see full disclaimer)

 
Translations: Translations for: Major

Dansk (Danish)
adj. - større, temmelig stor, vigtigst, hoved-
n. - [mil.] major, dur (musik), hovedfag
v. intr. - have noget som hovedfag

idioms:

  • major general    [mil.] generalmajor
  • major league    1. division (US baseball)
  • major part    størstedelen
  • major planet    planet
  • major scale    durskala (musik)
  • major suit    majorfarve

Nederlands (Dutch)
majoor, meerderjarige, belangrijk persoon/ magnaat, grote-tertstoon- ladder, hoofdargument/ axioma, hoofdvak, student, honkbal (major league), belangrijk, groter, behoorlijk, ernstig, betreffende het hoofdvak, betreffende grote-tertstoon- ladder, majeur (muziek), meerderjarig, een bepaald hoofdvak studeren

Français (French)
adj. - important, majeur, capital, principal, (Mus) majeur, (GB, École) aîné
n. - (Mil) commandant, major, (US, Univ) matière principale, (Jur) majeur/-e, (Mus) ton majeur
v. intr. - (US, Univ) se spécialiser en

idioms:

  • major general    (Mil, Naut) général de division
  • major league    première division, top niveau
  • major part    majorité, rôle principal
  • major planet    (Astron) planète majeure
  • major scale    échelle diatonique
  • major suit    (Mus) suite majeure

Deutsch (German)
n. - Major, Hauptfach
v. - etwas als Hauptfach studieren
adj. - bedeutend, größer, volljährig

idioms:

  • major general    Generalmajor
  • major league    Oberliga
  • major part    Großteil
  • major planet    Riesenplanet
  • major scale    Durtonleiter
  • major suit    (Bridge) hohe Farbe

Ελληνική (Greek)
n. - (στρατ.) ταγματάρχης, επισμηναγός, (νομ.) ενήλικος, (ΗΠΑ) πανεπιστημιακό μάθημα ειδίκευσης, (ΗΠΑ) ειδικευόμενος φοιτητής, (μουσ.) μείζων, ματζόρε
v. - (για σπουδαστές) ειδικεύομαι
adj. - μείζων, μεγαλύτερος, σοβαρός, ανώτερος, σπουδαιότερος, (μουσ.) μείζων, ματζόρε

idioms:

  • major general    (στρατ.) υποστράτηγος, υποπτέραρχος
  • major league    (ΗΠΑ) πρωτάθλημα πρώτης κατηγορίας
  • major part    πλειοψηφία, πλειονότητα
  • major planet    μέγιστος πλανήτης
  • major scale    (μουσ.) μείζων (κλίμακα)
  • major suit    (στο μπριτζ) φυλλότα σε κούπες ή πίκες

Italiano (Italian)
maggiore, principale, importante, laurearsi, specializzarsi

idioms:

  • major general    generale di divisione
  • major league    serie A
  • major part    maggior parte
  • major planet    pianeta principale
  • major scale    scala maggiore
  • major suit    picche e cuori

Português (Portuguese)
n. - maior (idade), prefeito (m), tom maior (m) (Mús.)
v. - especializar
adj. - maior

idioms:

  • major general    general de divisão (m)
  • major league    time principal (m)
  • major part    de grande importância
  • major planet    qualquer planeta do Sistema Solar
  • major scale    escala maior (f) (Mús.)
  • major suit    naipe de copas ou espadas no jogo de bridge

Русский (Russian)
майор, большой, старший, главный, мажорный, совершеннолетний, специализироваться

idioms:

  • major general    генерал-майор
  • major league    основная лига высокопоставленных баскетбольных команд
  • major part    основная часть
  • major planet    одна из 9 планет Солнечной системы
  • major scale    мажорная гамма
  • major suit    главная масть в карточной игре

Español (Spanish)
adj. - importante, principal, mayor, grave, prioritario, serio
n. - comandante, asignatura principal, especialidad, especializarse
v. intr. - especializarse, concentrarse en algo

idioms:

  • major general    general de división, (LAm) brigadier mayor, mayor general, teniente general
  • major league    liga mayor (de béisbol profesional)
  • major part    parte principal
  • major planet    (Astr) planeta
  • major scale    escala mayor
  • major suit    palo mayor (en bridge)

Svenska (Swedish)
n. - major, huvudämne, översats (logik)
v. - major in - specialisera sig på
adj. - större, allvarligare, svårare, myndig, dur- (mus.)

中文（简体） (Chinese (Simplified))
主要的, 大部份的, 较多的, 主修的, 大调的, 成年的, 主修, 陆军少校, 成年人, 大调

idioms:

  • major general    少将
  • major league    美国二大职业棒球联盟之一
  • major part    大部分
  • major planet    大行星
  • major scale    大音阶
  • major suit    大牌

中文（繁體） (Chinese (Traditional))
adj. - 主要的, 大部份的, 較多的, 主修的, 大調的, 成年的
n. - 主修, 陸軍少校, 成年人, 大調
v. intr. - 主修

idioms:

  • major general    少將
  • major league    美國二大職業棒球聯盟之一
  • major part    大部分
  • major planet    大行星
  • major scale    大音階
  • major suit    大牌

한국어 (Korean)
adj. - 큰 쪽의 , 중요한 쪽의, 위대한, 성인의, 다수의
n. - 육군 소령, 성인, 전공과목, 장조, 일류 명사
v. intr. - 전공하다

日本語 (Japanese)
adj. - より大きな, 多数の, 過半数の, 主要な, 一流の, 長調の, 専攻の, 成年に達した, 年長の
n. - 専攻科目, 専攻学生, 成年に達した人, 成人, 少佐, 長調, 陸軍少佐
v. - 専攻する

idioms:

  • major general    少将
  • major league    大リーグ
  • major part    大部分
  • major planet    大惑星
  • major scale    長音階
  • major suit    スペードのそろい札

العربيه (Arabic)
‏(الاسم) موضوع من موضوعات الجامعه, بالغ, راشد (فعل) يتخصص (صفه) رئيسي‏

עברית (Hebrew)
adj. - ‮ראשי, עיקרי, חשוב, גדול, בגיר, בוגר‬
n. - ‮רב-סרן, אדם מבוגר, מפתח ראשי, מקצוע הלימוד הראשי של סטודנט (ארה"ב), מונח או הנחה עיקריים (לוגיקה)‬
v. intr. - ‮למד או סיים ללמוד מקצוע מסוים (ארה"ב)‬

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Did you mean: major, John Major (1943–, British politician), John Major (1469–1550, Scottish theologian and historian), Major (first name), Clarence Major (literature), Norma Major More...

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Dictionary. The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition Copyright © 2007, 2000 by Houghton Mifflin Company. Updated in 2007. Published by Houghton Mifflin Company. All rights reserved.  Read more
Thesaurus. Roget's II: The New Thesaurus, Third Edition by the Editors of the American Heritage® Dictionary Copyright © 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Company. All rights reserved.  Read more
Answers Corporation Antonyms. © 1999-2008 by Answers Corporation. All rights reserved.  Read more
US Military Dictionary. The Oxford Essential Dictionary of the U.S. Military. Copyright © 2001, 2002 by Oxford University Press, Inc. All rights reserved.  Read more
Music Encyclopedia. The Concise Grove Dictionary of Music. Copyright © 1994 by Oxford University Press, Inc.. All rights reserved.  Read more
Music. © 2003 The Austin Symphony. All Rights Reserved.  Read more
Marine Corps Dictionary. Copyright © 2003 "Unofficial Dictionary for Marines" compiled and edited by Glenn B. Knight  Read more
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