大勢|おおぜいoozei[3]nakadaka (mid-high)

1. no-adjectivecrowd of people; great number of people
   そこには大勢おおぜいの人ひとがいた。↗

   There was a large crowd there.
2. adverbin great numbers

• Synonym群衆ぐんしゅうWrittenWritten word for a large crowd gathered in one place, as in 「群衆が押し寄せる」; 「大勢」 only says the number of people is large.
• Synonym群集ぐんしゅうWrittenWritten word for the act or state of gathering into a crowd; common in psychology and ecology, as in 「群集心理」.
• Synonym人だかりひとだかりNeutralNeutral word for a crowd of onlookers, as in 「事故現場に人だかりができる」.
• SynonymモブCasualColloquial loanword for background crowd characters in anime, manga or games, as in 「モブキャラ」.
• Related大群たいぐんWrittenWritten word for a large group, used mostly of animals, as in 「イナゴの大群」.
• Related群ぐんWrittenWritten word for a group of similar things; mostly in compounds, as in 「症候群」 and 「群を抜く」.
• Related集団しゅうだんNeutralNeutral word for a group of people or things with something in common, stressing organization, as in 「集団行動」.
• Related集まりあつまりNeutralNeutral word for a gathering or meeting, stressing the occasion of people coming together, as in 「会員の集まり」.
• Related群れむれNeutralNeutral word for animals in flocks or herds, as in 「羊の群れ」; also 「人の群れ」. Stresses the clustering itself; 「大勢」 only says many people.
• Related一団いちだんWrittenWritten word for a party or band viewed as one whole, as in 「観光客の一団」.
• Related一群いちぐんWrittenWritten word for a group of people, animals or flowers, as in 「一群の鳥」.
• Related多勢たぜいWrittenWritten word for the numerically superior side; mostly in the idiom 「多勢に無勢」, stressing numerical advantage.
• RelatedグループNeutralNeutral loanword for a group formed for a shared purpose, any size, as in 「グループで行動する」; stresses the grouping, while 「大勢」 only says many people.
• Related一群れひとむれNeutralNeutral word for a cluster of people, animals or a spread of flowers; stresses being gathered together, not large numbers like 「大勢」.
• Related烏合の衆うごうのしゅうWrittenWritten idiom for a disorderly, undisciplined crowd; derogatory.
• Related人立ちひとだちWrittenWritten, old-fashioned word for a crowd of people gathered; rarely used today — say 「人だかり」 instead.
• Antonym少数しょうすうNeutralNeutral antonym of 「大勢」 meaning a small number, as in 「少数意見」.
• Antonym小勢こぜいWrittenWritten antonym of 「大勢」 for a small force or few troops; mostly military.

Default to 「大勢」 for a large number of people. Use 「群衆」 for a big crowd gathered in one place, 「人だかり」 for a crowd of onlookers, 「集団」 or 「グループ」 for organized groups, and 「群れ」 for animals in flocks; 「少数」 is the opposite for small numbers. The rest are narrower: 「モブ」 background characters, 「大群」 large animal groups, 「一団」「一群」「一群れ」 one group, 「多勢」 numerical superiority, 「烏合の衆」 a disorderly mob, 「人立ち」 old-fashioned.

Usage comparisons are AI-assisted and cross-checked by multiple models; for study reference only

1. 数多すうたの人ひと。多おおくの人数にんずう。副詞ふくし的てきにも用もちいる。