main — OET · Shobdo

main

adjective

1 the main office | the main issue:

principal, chief, head, leading, foremost, most important, major, ruling, dominant, central, focal, key, prime, master, premier, primary, first, high, grand, fundamental, supreme, predominant, (most) prominent, pre-eminent, paramount, overriding, cardinal, crucial, vital, critical, capital, pivotal, salient, elemental, essential, staple, intrinsic, urgent.

▷antonyms subsidiary, minor.

2 they dragged him away by main force:

sheer, pure, utter, downright, mere, plain, brute, stark, absolute, out-and-out, direct.

noun

literary

the Spanish Main:

sea, ocean, deep, brine;

informal , dated the drink;

British, informal , dated the briny.

□ in the main

mainly, mostly, for the most part, on the whole, largely, by and large, to a large extent, to a great degree, predominantly, chiefly, principally;

generally, usually, typically, commonly, as a rule, on average.

main (1) Oxford Dictionary of English