grosso modo

See also: grossomodo

English

Etymology

From Latin grossō modō.

Adverb

grosso modo (comparative more grosso modo, superlative most grosso modo)

1. roughly, circa or approximately
   • 1980. Henry Mehlberg, Robert Sonné Cohen. Time, Causality, and the Quantum Theory: Studies in the Philosophy of Science. p. 211.

     The fact that event B takes place in the interval separating events A and C has an invariant significance, which may be expressed grosso modo by saying that events which are closer together have more effects in common.

   • 1985. Edward W. Said. Orientalism Reconsidered. Cultural Critique, 1, pp. 94-95.

     Still others criticize Orientalism for falsifying the nature of Islam: these are, grosso modo, the fundamentalists.

Dutch

Etymology

From Latin grossō modō.

Pronunciation

• Audio:

  (file)

Adverb

grosso modo

1. roughly, circa or approximately

French

Alternative forms

• grosso-modo

Etymology

From Latin grossō modō.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ɡʁo.so mo.do/

Adverb

grosso modo

1. roughly, circa, approximately

   Synonyms: à peu près, approximativement, environ

   • 1999, Anna Gavalda, “Permission”, in Je voudrais que quelqu'un m'attende quelque part, →ISBN:

     […] L’autre lui disait grosso modo que c’était pas la peine étant donné qu’il allait se trimballer son paquet d’emmerdements avec lui.

     […] He basically told him that there was no point since he'd just be taking all his problems with him.

Italian

Adverb

grosso modo

1. Alternative form of grossomodo

Latin

Etymology

Adverbial locution, from grossus (“approximate”) + modus (“way, method”).

Pronunciation

• (Classical Latin) IPA^(key): /ˈɡros.soː ˈmo.doː/, [ˈɡrɔs̠ːoː ˈmɔd̪oː]
• (modern Italianate Ecclesiastical) IPA^(key): /ˈɡros.so ˈmo.do/, [ˈɡrɔsːo ˈmɔːd̪o]

Adverb

grossō modō (not comparable)

1. roughly, circa, approximately
2. coarsely

Spanish

Etymology

From Latin grossō modō.

Adverb

grosso modo

1. roughly, circa or approximately

   Synonyms: see Thesaurus:aproximadamente

Further reading

• “grosso modo”, in Diccionario de la lengua española [Dictionary of the Spanish Language] (in Spanish), 23rd edition, Royal Spanish Academy, 2014 October 16