What does "bulk" mean?
Size, specifically, volume.
Bulk
/bʌlk/ adj, noun, verb
adj, noun, verb ·Very common ·Middle school level
Meaning at a glance
- Primary sense: Size, specifically, volume.
- Grammar: bulk is listed as adj, noun, verb.
- Nearest alternatives: mass, volume, accumulate, add to.
- Useful contrasts: chemical samples, chemical unit, elementary unit.
- Usage evidence: Great bulk does not always mean great weight.
How to use "bulk"
- Start with the primary definition, then check the part of speech before placing the word in a sentence.
- Compare nearby synonyms to make sure "bulk" carries the exact meaning, tone, and strength you need.
- Use the example sentence as a context check. If your sentence uses the word differently, confirm that the grammar still fits.
Meaning check
- Does the word fit the sentence's grammar?
- Does it match the intended tone rather than only the dictionary definition?
- Would a simpler synonym be clearer for the reader?
- Is there enough surrounding context to prevent ambiguity?
Source and review context
This entry combines structured lexical data with WordToolSet review checks. Definitions, examples, synonyms, and usage notes may come from different source tables, so the page is designed to show evidence from more than one angle before you rely on "bulk" in a final draft.
If a word has several senses, prefer the sense that matches your sentence's grammar and surrounding context. A correct definition can still be the wrong choice when the sentence needs a different register, emphasis, or level of specificity.
Before you rely on this definition
Read the first definition as a starting point, then check the example, synonyms, and part of speech before treating "bulk" as the right word for your sentence.
If your draft is formal, technical, persuasive, or sensitive, compare "bulk" with a nearby alternative so the final choice matches both meaning and reader expectation.
Compare nearby meanings
- Use synonyms when you need a softer, stronger, simpler, or more specific word.
- Use antonyms to check the boundary of the meaning and avoid accidental contrast.
- Use the example sentence to confirm the word behaves naturally in context.
- Keep the original wording when a replacement adds complexity without improving precision.
Definition decision workflow
1. Identify the role
Check whether "bulk" is acting as adj, noun, verb in your sentence. A definition is only useful when the grammar matches the way the word is being used.
2. Test the nearest option
Compare it with "mass" and other nearby choices to see whether the sentence needs a softer, stronger, or more familiar word.
3. Confirm with context
Use the example sentence below as an evidence check, then read your own sentence out loud to catch tone or rhythm problems.
Review note: Definition pages are checked for source coverage, sentence evidence, synonym support, and editorial insight before they are treated as approval-ready pages. If the evidence is too thin, the page remains available to users but is kept out of the approval-facing indexed inventory.
Final meaning check
Before publishing a sentence with "bulk", ask whether the word helps the reader understand the idea faster. A precise word should reduce confusion, not simply make the sentence look more polished.
When the definition, synonym evidence, and example context point in the same direction, the word is usually a safer choice. When they conflict, revise the sentence or choose a clearer alternative.
Definitions
Noun
- 1 Size, specifically, volume. countable, uncountable
"The Quantity of Matter is the measure of the same, arising from its density and bulk conjunctly."
- 2 the property possessed by a large mass wordnet
- 3 Any huge body or structure. countable, uncountable
"The obese woman couldn't ease her bulk through the narrow passageway."
- 4 the property of something that is great in magnitude wordnet
- 5 The major part of something. countable, uncountable
"In the case of such a contract, there must be an implied condition that the bulk shall correspond with the sample in quality"
Show 10 more definitions
- 6 the property resulting from being or relating to the greater in number of two parts; the main part wordnet
- 7 The major part of something.; Majority, balance. countable, uncountable
"The bulk of my income comes from my office job, but I also teach a couple of evening classes."
- 8 The major part of something.; Gist. countable, uncountable
"I understood the bulk of what you were saying, just one of two points I need to hear again."
- 9 Dietary fibre. countable, uncountable
- 10 Unpackaged goods when transported in large volumes, e.g. coal, ore, or grain. uncountable
- 11 A cargo or any items moved or communicated in the manner of cargo. countable
- 12 Excess body mass, especially muscle. countable, uncountable
- 13 A period where one tries to gain muscle. countable, uncountable
- 14 A hypothetical higher-dimensional space within which our own four-dimensional universe may exist. countable, uncountable
- 15 The body. countable, obsolete, uncountable
"...haunted the chocolate-houses, beat the watch, lay on bulks, and got claps;"
Verb
- 1 To appear or seem to be, as to bulk or extent. intransitive
"The fame of Warburton possibly bulked larger for the moment."
- 2 cause to bulge or swell outwards wordnet
- 3 To grow in size; to swell or expand. intransitive
- 4 stick out or up wordnet
- 5 To gain body mass by means of diet, exercise, etc. intransitive
Show 3 more definitions
- 6 to gain size and weight by means of exercise and diet wordnet
- 7 To put or hold in bulk. transitive
- 8 To add bulk to; to bulk out. obsolete, transitive
"Some of the towne dwellers haue ſo large an opinion of their ſetled prouiſion, that if all her Maieſties fleet at once ſhould put into their bay, within twelue dayes warning with ſo much double beere, beefe, fiſh and bisket they would bulke them as they could wallow away with."
Adjective
- 1 Being large in size, mass, or volume (of goods, etc.). not-comparable
- 2 Total. not-comparable
"Bulk fermentation"
Synonyms
All synonymsAntonyms
chemical sampleschemical unitelementary unitliving organism specimens
Example
"Great bulk does not always mean great weight."
Common questions
What is a synonym for "bulk"?
Common synonyms include: mass, volume, accumulate, add to, adjust, agglomerate.
How do you use "bulk" in a sentence?
Great bulk does not always mean great weight.
How do you pronounce "bulk"?
Pronounced /bʌlk/.
Etymology
From Middle English bulk, bolke (“a heap, cargo, hold; heap; bulge”), borrowed from Old Norse búlki (“the freight or the cargo of a ship”), from Proto-Germanic *bulkô (“beam, pile, heap”), from Proto-Indo-European *bʰelǵ- (“beam, pile, prop”). Compare Icelandic búlkast (“to be bulky”), Swedish dialectal bulk (“a bunch”), Danish bulk (“bump, knob”). Conflated with Middle English bouk (“belly, trunk”).