Timeline for "vastly" for "to a [very] great degree; extremely" in contexts not involving comparison or measurement: BrEng vs. AmEng usage
Current License: CC BY-SA 3.0
32 events
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| S Apr 4, 2016 at 15:02 | history | bounty ended | Elian | ||
| S Apr 4, 2016 at 15:02 | history | notice removed | Elian | ||
| Apr 2, 2016 at 9:52 | vote | accept | Elian | ||
| S Apr 1, 2016 at 4:55 | history | bounty started | Elian | ||
| S Apr 1, 2016 at 4:55 | history | notice added | Elian | Authoritative reference needed | |
| Mar 30, 2016 at 3:50 | history | tweeted | twitter.com/StackEnglish/status/715023457482907650 | ||
| Mar 28, 2016 at 11:39 | comment | added | Phil Sweet | Noncountables can have a vast quantity or vast amount, such as sugar, or a vast sea of spilt pasta. A vast herd, but not a vast number of zebras. An array can be vast, but not the multiplicity of its elements. Improvement can be vast if it is not readily measurable, but I would not use vast with accuracy, which is measurable in a countable way. So I'm a bit confused by the posted definition that speaks of involving measurement or comparison. Vast tends to be used when measurement is an unattractive prospect. | |
| Mar 28, 2016 at 11:26 | history | edited | Elian | CC BY-SA 3.0 |
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| Mar 28, 2016 at 11:20 | history | edited | Elian | CC BY-SA 3.0 |
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| Mar 28, 2016 at 9:44 | history | edited | Elian | CC BY-SA 3.0 |
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| Mar 28, 2016 at 5:20 | history | edited | Elian | CC BY-SA 3.0 |
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| Mar 28, 2016 at 4:26 | history | edited | Elian | CC BY-SA 3.0 |
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| Mar 28, 2016 at 4:09 | history | edited | Elian | CC BY-SA 3.0 |
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| Mar 28, 2016 at 3:34 | comment | added | Phil Sweet | Blimey, those last, um, couple examples sound terrible and I'm American. Vast should be used with ideas that are thought of as having scope. Things can be complex, and their scope vast, but their complexity can not be vast. Compare Ngrams for highly-, exceedingly- and vastly complex. Also try gross- and vast oversimplification. I found an early occurrence of vast oversimplification from 1913 - The Genealogy of Morals by Friedrich Wilhelm Nietzsche, Horace Barnett- which could explain how it became commonplace. At best, I'd call it a rhetorical device- throwing down the gauntlet, as it were. | |
| Mar 27, 2016 at 21:31 | history | edited | Elian | CC BY-SA 3.0 |
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| Mar 27, 2016 at 19:21 | history | edited | Elian | CC BY-SA 3.0 |
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| Mar 27, 2016 at 17:44 | history | edited | Elian | CC BY-SA 3.0 |
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| Mar 27, 2016 at 17:38 | history | edited | Elian | CC BY-SA 3.0 |
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| Mar 27, 2016 at 16:13 | history | edited | Elian | CC BY-SA 3.0 |
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| Mar 27, 2016 at 15:48 | history | edited | Elian | CC BY-SA 3.0 |
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| Mar 27, 2016 at 15:09 | history | edited | Elian | CC BY-SA 3.0 |
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| Mar 27, 2016 at 13:43 | history | edited | Elian | CC BY-SA 3.0 |
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| Mar 27, 2016 at 13:30 | history | edited | Elian | CC BY-SA 3.0 |
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| Mar 27, 2016 at 13:22 | history | edited | Elian | CC BY-SA 3.0 |
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| Mar 27, 2016 at 12:57 | history | edited | Elian | CC BY-SA 3.0 |
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| Mar 27, 2016 at 12:40 | history | edited | Elian | CC BY-SA 3.0 |
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| Mar 27, 2016 at 12:30 | history | edited | Elian | CC BY-SA 3.0 |
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| Mar 27, 2016 at 12:05 | history | edited | Elian | CC BY-SA 3.0 |
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| Mar 27, 2016 at 12:04 | comment | added | Peter Shor | From some experiments with Google Ngrams, it appears that vastly isn't actually used any differently in AmE and BrE. | |
| Mar 27, 2016 at 11:24 | comment | added | Captain Cranium | I presume that you mean affectation, not affection! I tried amending it, but the edit is too small to be accepted via that route. | |
| Mar 27, 2016 at 11:17 | answer | added | Captain Cranium | timeline score: 2 | |
| Mar 27, 2016 at 11:04 | history | asked | Elian | CC BY-SA 3.0 |