major

[[t]me͟ɪʤə(r)[/t]]

♦

majors, majoring, majored

1) ADJ-GRADED: ADJ n You use major when you want to describe something that is more important, serious, or significant than other things in a group or situation.

The major factor in the decision to stay or to leave was usually professional...

Drug abuse has long been a major problem for the authorities there...

Exercise has a major part to play in preventing and combating disease.

Syn:

significant

2) N-COUNT; N-TITLE; N-VOC A major is an officer who is one rank above captain in the British army or the United States army, air force, or marines.

I was a major in the war, you know.

...Major Alan Bulman.

3) N-COUNT: oft poss N At a university or college in the United States, a student's major is the main subject that they are studying.

English majors would be asked to explore the roots of language.

4) N-COUNT: n N At a university or college in the United States, if a student is, for example, a geology major, geology is the main subject they are studying.

She was named the outstanding undergraduate history major at the University of Oklahoma.

5) VERB If a student at a university or college in the United States majors in a particular subject, that subject is the main one they study.

[V in n] He majored in finance at Claremont Men's College in California.

6) ADJ: n ADJ, ADJ n In music, a major scale is one in which the third note is two tones higher than the first.

...Mozart's Symphony No 35 in D Major.

Ant:

minor