Home British & World English max

Definition of max in English:

max

noun

informal

  • A maximum amount or setting.

    ‘the sound is distorted to the max’
    • ‘Visitors to his Pebble Beach manse find that not only are bathrooms and fridges stocked to the max but so is the supply of athletic equipment.’
    • ‘So there is that strain there too, where one set of associations, if you like, are being resourced to the max, and the trade unions are not.’
    • ‘For there will be a whole subsegment of patients who get placed on second and third drugs or whose doses get pushed to the max to try to meet the ideal cholesterol level.’
    • ‘At the same time, though its humor's lowbrow to the max, it's all wrong for the kid market.’
    • ‘The banks are involved in a dogfight for market share and will push lending to the max if they have to.’
    • ‘Just don't expect to tweak your processor to the max or have the fastest system on the planet.’
    • ‘And they were what we intellectuals call career opportunists - to the max.’
    • ‘I huffed back into the shops, my camera fired up and hidden under my sleeve, already zoomed in to the max with the flash turned off, so I could shoot from as far away as possible.’
    • ‘The company describes its approach as going to the max.’
    • ‘Hollywood then takes this basic premise, amplifies it to the max, and time-compresses the results to fit their typical short attention span.’
    • ‘And despite the euro hitting its peak while I was there, I still managed to raise cultural experiences to the max.’
    • ‘You are invariably greeted with a whopping great shrine in the front room, decorated to the max, with a door leading to the kitchen and family quarters behind.’
    • ‘It takes Jason's idea and exploits it to the max.’
    • ‘This song in particular deserves to be cranked up to the max.’
    • ‘Officials are pushing the drainage system to the max, but it could take more than three weeks to get rid of that much water.’
    • ‘Pamper yourself to the max so you'll be the girl who makes people stop and stare.’
    • ‘The calls are timed to be disruptive to the max, like just before meetings, or at the start of major activities and projects.’
    • ‘He is the reason why I have my life together and why I push myself to the max.’
    • ‘If we accept that we are limited in resources, then it is clear that we must use the little that we have to the max if we are to improve the lot of our people.’
    • ‘Studies show that hair actually grows slower when you are stressed to the max.’

adverb

informal

  • At the most.

    ‘it took me ten minutes max to make this salad’

verb

informal

  • Reach or cause to reach the limit of capacity or ability.

    no object ‘job growth in high technology will max out’
    with object ‘they do not look favourably at someone who has maxed out their credit cards’
    • ‘I didn't want them knowing I was maxed to the limit.’
    • ‘Within four years, the brewery had maxed out its production capacity.’
    • ‘But he felt the bar business had maxed out its potential while the wine business had tremendous possibility of growth.’
    • ‘If I got an email from you and didn't mail back, it's not because I'm evil - it's because I'm maxed out.’
    • ‘My credit card is maxed out and my bank account is empty.’
    • ‘The admission standards are so low that practically anybody with a credit card that isn't maxed out can enter the programs.’
    • ‘When he turned it all the way up, he probably maxed it out at around 30.’
    • ‘Presumably those two sentences would have maxed out at eight words!’
    • ‘We borrowed money from our parents, and we maxed out my credit card.’
    • ‘Some of these teams are maxed as to membership, so please mention all that interest you.’
    • ‘We've been maxing out on bandwidth and server capacity for four, five hours a day.’
    • ‘And when an employee doesn't max out their annual limit, the unused funds will simply be carried forward and used for the next year's claims.’
    • ‘As a result, Todd hit a challenging plateau with his bench press, maxing out at the same weight for at least a month.’
    • ‘How much time for recovery is necessary after maxing out?’
    • ‘And I can really see that he's living life and maxing it.’
    • ‘The secret to maxing out your power is in the setup.’
    • ‘Is it by any chance maxing out into rigid non-negotiability?’
    • ‘Get yourself a spotter and push out the heaviest sets of your life, maxing out at 6 to 8 reps with good form.’
    • ‘Our narrator starts the record slightly haywire, a confused youth maxing out on the raw nerves of bitterness and hope.’
    • ‘Make sure to warm up thoroughly, because the chances of injury increase greatly when maxing out.’

Pronunciation

max

/maks/