vast

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。

【tremendous, colossal, huge, gigantic, massive, vast, enormous, immense, giant】
这组词都有“巨大的，庞大的”的意思，其区别是：
tremendous: 指某物很大，大得惊人；也可用作引申意义。
colossal: 侧重尺寸、规模和体积的无比巨大。
huge: 含义广，强调体积或容积的庞大。也可用于引申意义。
gigantic: 指面积或体积的巨大，但多用于引申意义。
massive: 指大的体积、数量和重量，侧重庞大而笨重。
vast: 多指空间、面积、范围的巨大，不涉及重量。
enormous: 指体积、数量或程度远远超过一般标准。
immense: 正式用词，侧重空间的广阔，也指面积或分量的巨大。
giant: 非正式用词，多为褒义。指如巨人般的庞大体积。