bulk
n. uncountablen. the largest part of something. You use this when you want to talk about the majority of a group or the main size of an object.
n. the greater part or majority of something; also refers to large size, mass, or volume. Often used with the definite article and the preposition 'of'.
The bulk of the work is already finished.
The bulk of the budget goes toward staff salaries, leaving very little for new equipment.
While the introduction provides some context, the bulk of the dissertation focuses on the statistical analysis of the survey results collected over the last three years.
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”).
Commonly used in the phrase 'the bulk of' followed by a noun. When referring to physical size, it is often used without 'of'.