En masse comes from French literature, from the expression «en masse». In this case, mass means «all people.» So when you do something en masse, everyone does it together. Voting en masse means that a whole group of people votes in the same way. When everyone gets up and leaves a place en masse, it can be difficult to get out the door. The Madras High Court overturned the mass dismissal of staff recruited here at the Indian Maritime University and ordered the university to continue the services of those who had turned to the court and were working as before. [The Hindu] The call to oppose the ban that has spread across social media sites was the largest mass action since November 1990, when a group of 47 Saudi women were arrested and severely punished after protesting in cars. [The Telegraph] They drove in unmarked cars and motorcycles and appeared en masse from the dark. These sample sentences are automatically selected from various online information sources to reflect the current use of the word «en masse». The opinions expressed in the examples do not represent the opinion of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us your feedback. A French expression that means «in a big body»: «The demonstrators went to the White House en masse». Cork plants take a few years to fill, but they offer a more affordable way to plant en masse. «En masse.» dictionary Merriam-Webster.com, Merriam-Webster, www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/en%20masse.
Accessed October 11, 2022. Mass is an adverb used to describe a group that performs one action at a time or as a single entity. It is an appositive, which means that it comes after the word that modifies it. People are marching in droves. It comes from the French and literally means in a mass. Civilians were largely spared in the fighting because they were evacuated en masse at the start of the battle, mainly across the border to Turkey. [Yahoo News Australia] Sometimes mass is used as an adjective. The dictionary does not define this as an officially accepted use, but it is common enough that the meaning is clear to readers.
Convention seems to dictate that if en masse is an adjective, it loses the appositive quality and comes before the noun it modifies. In a group or body; all together. For example, activists marched en masse to the Capitol. This French term, with exactly the same meaning, was adopted in English around 1800. The mass adverb means everything together, such as when the priest asked if anyone had objected to your wedding during the ceremony, and the audience raised their hands en masse. Two hostages died on their way to the hospital, while police said they killed gunman Haron Moni. It can be pronounced (in mas) or (awn mas), although the latter is only listed in American dictionaries and is most likely the result of constant mispronunciation. When pronounced (in mas), it also leads to common spelling mistakes, especially if the user does not know that the sentence comes from French. One hostage died on the way, the Journal reported, while the other died on the operating table. «Tu eres como chuleria en pote» is the Puerto Rican expression that led to his nickname.
He saw his beautiful dress soubs soy (because it was in east), and prepared his harangue funebre. Their castle in Spain seemed invisible, as such castles usually are; and where could it be found, who was there to say it? Find out which words work together and create more natural English with the Oxford Collocations Dictionary app. The harangue should end in the farewell and common comploration of all. Find the answers online with Practical English Usage, your essential guide to English language problems. ACCEPT; But now that we are quite far from this point, we must make the most of the evil. He lived quite a boy, with only one man whose house had been rented for the season. Has the airline submitted a schedule on its route from Surabaya, Indonesia to Singapore that takes into account the weather? Join our community to access the latest language learning and assessment tips from Oxford University Press!.