Tall describes something with greater height than usual. A tall person reaches higher than most people around them. A tall building towers over its neighbors. A tall glass holds more liquid than a short one because it stretches upward.

What counts as tall depends on what you're comparing. A six-foot-tall basketball player might seem average on their team but tall in a regular classroom. A tall tree in your backyard might reach 40 feet, while tall redwoods in California grow over 300 feet.

The word can also describe stories that are hard to believe. A tall tale is an exaggerated story, like someone claiming they caught a fish “this tall” while spreading their arms impossibly wide. When someone says “that's a tall order,” they mean a request that's difficult to fulfill, like asking someone to finish a month's worth of homework in one night.

People sometimes confuse tall with high, but there's a difference: tall often describes objects that rise upward from a base (a tall person, a tall tower), while high often describes position or elevation (a high shelf, a high mountain). You usually wouldn't say a ceiling is tall, even though it's far above the floor.