The "Great" War 1914-1918

Interesting how it came to be refered to as the "great" war...

Granted - great does not neccisarily mean good - it could instead simply mean large or big, or some-such.

But then why not call it the large war? The big war? The collosal war? The extensive war? But no, for some reason it became refered to in History as "great", a word that has quite strong conotations of being good, beneficial... even desirable.

So would someone please explain to me why it is called the "great" war? Since I fail to see how anyone could describe war as being good, beneficial or desirable...