Gross (noun) refers to total income, revenue, or overall amount before deductions; in everyday use it often means something coarse or vulgar as well. In formal accounting, gross is contrasted with net. The term carries specific connotations of magnitude or scale, and can appear in phrases like gross revenue, gross weight, or gross misconduct, though context determines its nuance.
- You might default to a short vowel (perceiving /ɪ/ or /ə/) instead of the long diphthong /roʊ/ or /rəʊ/. Focus on controlling lip rounding and jaw closure to maintain the right vowel nucleus. - You may end up with a tense, sharp /s/ that sound like /z/; keep voiceless /s/ and avoid buzzing. - Some learners add extra breath before /s/ or blend the end with a trailing vowel; keep the sequence crisp: vowel → /s/ with a short, clean release.
"The company reported a gross revenue of $2.3 million for the quarter."
"Before taxes, the gross income was higher than I expected."
"The ceremony took place at a gross weight limit of 2,000 pounds for the aircraft."
"His behavior was considered gross and inappropriate for the polite setting."
Gross comes from the Old French gros, meaning large, fat, or bulk, which itself derives from the Latin grossus meaning thick or bulky. By the late Middle Ages, gross appeared in English to mean coarse, bulky, or entire before deductions, and later broadened to denote total amount (as in gross income). In 17th–18th centuries, commercial usage popularized gross as “the total amount before deductions.” The modern sense of “repulsive” or “disgusting” emerged in the 19th century (gross bodily reactions), while “gross” as a standard accounting term persists in finance, business, and law contexts to indicate the overall figure before any subtractions. The evolution reflects shifting emphasis from physical bulk to holistic magnitude in commerce and everyday language; first known uses appear in Middle English and early modern legal/financial texts, with stable attestation in commercial dictionaries by the 1800s.
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💡 These words have similar meanings to "Gross" and can often be used interchangeably.
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Words that rhyme with "Gross"
-oss sounds
Practice with these rhyming pairs to improve your pronunciation consistency:
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US: /ɡroʊs/ with a long o sound; UK: /ɡrəʊs/ using a rhotic-leaning non-rhotic vowel; AU: /ɡroːs/ with a longer, closer back vowel. Stress is on the single syllable; the initial g is hard, followed by an elongated vowel, then clear s. Picture your mouth forming /ɡ/ with the back of the tongue touching soft palate, then a rounded, mid-to-high back vowel before the final /s/. Audio reference: you can compare in Pronounce or Forvo by searching “gross.”
Two common errors: (1) Shortening the vowel to a lax /ɪ/ or /ə/, producing /ɡrɪs/ or /ɡrəs/; (2) Gargling or over-aspirating the /s/ at the end, introducing a hiss. Correction: keep the vowel as a long /oʊ/ or /əʊ/ cluster (/roʊ/ vs /rəʊ/), land the final /s/ quickly after the vowel with minimal extra breath, and avoid trailing voiceless aspiration. Practice with minimal pairs: gross /gros/ vs gross /grɒs/ (British).
US: /ɡroʊs/ with pronounced /roʊ/ as a diphthong; UK: /ɡrəʊs/ often with a centralized /ə/ before the glide and a clearer /əʊ/; AU: /ɡroːs/ with a longer pure /oː/ vowel and non-rhotic tendency still, but some speakers show a closer /oː/. Overall, rhoticity doesn’t affect this word much since it’s closed syllable; the main difference is the vowel quality and length of the vowel nucleus.
The main challenge is producing the vowel cluster correctly: the US /roʊ/ diphthong moves from /o/ to /ʊ-ish/ within the same syllable, while UK /rəʊ/ uses a mid back rounded vowel with a glide; many speakers blend or misplace the tongue to an /ɒ/ or /ɜ/ sound, creating /grɒs/ or /græs/. The final /s/ requires holding a steady dental/alveolar fricative without voicing or extra breath; practice the quick transition from the rounded vowel to the /s/.
In most varieties of English, /r/ is not pronounced in the syllable nucleus of gross; there isn’t an r-colouring in standard US/UK/AU. The primary consideration is the vowel nucleus: US /roʊ/, UK /rəʊ/, AU /roː/. If you encounter a speaker adding a silent r-like timbre in rapid speech, it would be an idiolectal variation rather than a standard accent feature. Keep to the standard vowel shapes and avoid adding extraneous postvocalic r in non-rhotic contexts.
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- Shadowing: listen to native speakers saying gross and repeat in real-time; slow first, then normal pace, then faster. - Minimal pairs: gross vs grass (US), gross vs growls (practice for /oʊ/ vs /rəʊ/). - Rhythm: one-syllable word; stress is single beat; practice with sentence scaffolds to embed natural timing. - Intonation: practice in statements vs questions.
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