long
primarily temporal sense; being or indicating a relatively great or greater than average duration or passage of time or a duration as specified
How often you will meet it
Rank 121 of 71,295 words measured. It occurs 208,313 times across 175,113 chapters — 0.099% of every word in the library.
It belongs to the first 500 words, the band worth learning before any other.
What it means
adjective
- primarily temporal sense; being or indicating a relatively great or greater than average duration or passage of time or a duration as specified a long lifea long boring speech
- primarily spatial sense; of relatively great or greater than average spatial extension or extension as specified a long roada long distance
- of relatively great height a race of long gaunt menlooked out the long French windows
- good at remembering also: retentive, recollective, tenacious a retentive mindtenacious memory
- holding securities or commodities in expectation of a rise in prices is long on coffeea long position in gold
- (of speech sounds or syllables) of relatively long duration the English vowel sounds in `bate', `beat', `bite', `boat', `boot' are long
long in real books
Each sentence below was written by a published author and is taken from a different book in our library. Open one to read the passage it came from, with narration.
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I've heerd o' Mavis as long as I can rickellect.
The Heart of the Hills · John, Jr. Fox · Chapter 1
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He lay still a long time, enduring--all he could manage at first.
The Courage of the Commonplace · Mary Raymond Shipman Andrews · Chapter 1
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I said nothing, but it was a long time before my limbs ceased to shake.
The Betrayal · E. Phillips (Edward Phillips) Oppenheim · Chapter 1
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We can forgive a man for making a useful thing as long as he does not admire it.
The Picture of Dorian Gray · Oscar Wilde · Chapter 1
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Some of the parts are rather long, but all have been played by children of the age indicated in the text.
The White Christmas and other Merry · Walter Ben Hare · Chapter 1