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big
1[ big ]
adjective
- large, as in size, height, width, or amount:
a big house; a big quantity.
Synonyms: extensive, voluminous, capacious, massive, bulky, immense, huge
Antonyms: little
- of major concern, importance, gravity, or the like:
a big problem.
- outstanding for a specified quality:
a big liar; a big success.
- important, as in influence, standing, or wealth:
a big man in his field.
Synonyms: consequential
big enough to know better.
my big sister.
- doing business or conducted on a large scale; major in size or importance:
big government.
- consisting of the largest or most influential companies in an industry:
Big steel wants to lower prices, but the smaller mills don't.
- Informal. known or used widely; popular:
Nouvelle cuisine became big in the 1970s.
big enough to forgive.
a big talker.
a big voice.
- (of clothing or a clothing design) made of or distinguished by voluminous fabric that is loosely or softly shaped and fitted:
a big shirt; the big look.
- (of a wine) having more than average flavor, body, and alcoholic content.
- filled; brimming:
eyes big with tears.
- Chiefly South Midland and Southern U.S. pregnant 1( def 1 ).
- Obsolete. very strong; powerful.
adverb
- Informal. boastfully; pretentiously:
to act big; to talk big.
- Informal. with great success; successfully:
to go over big.
noun
- the bigs, Sports Slang. the highest level of professional competition, as the major leagues in baseball.
big
2[ big ]
verb (used with object)
- to build.
big
1/ bɪɡ /
verb
- to build
- to excavate (earth) into a pile
big
2/ bɪɡ /
adjective
- of great or considerable size, height, weight, number, power, or capacity
- having great significance; important
a big decision
- important through having power, influence, wealth, authority, etc
the big four banks
- (intensifier usually qualifying something undesirable)
a big dope
- informal.considerable in extent or intensity (esp in the phrase in a big way )
- elder
my big brother
- grown-up
when you're big, you can stay up later
- generous; magnanimous
that's very big of you
- ( in combination )
big-hearted
- often foll by with brimming; full
my heart is big with sadness
- extravagant; boastful
he's full of big talk
- (of wine) full-bodied, with a strong aroma and flavour
- too big for one's boots or too big for one's breechesconceited; unduly self-confident
- in an advanced stage of pregnancy (esp in the phrase big with child )
- big on informal.enthusiastic about
that company is big on research
adverb
- boastfully; pretentiously (esp in the phrase talk big )
- in an exceptional way; well
his talk went over big with the audience
- on a grand scale (esp in the phrase think big )
Derived Forms
- ˈbiggish, adjective
- ˈbigness, noun
Other Words From
- biggish adjective
- bigly adverb adjective
Word History and Origins
Origin of big1
Origin of big2
Word History and Origins
Origin of big1
Origin of big2
Idioms and Phrases
- be big on, to have a special liking or enthusiasm for:
Mother is big on family get-togethers.
- big with child. great ( def 23 ).
More idioms and phrases containing big
- go over big
- great (big) guns
- hit it big
- in a big way
- little frog in a big pond
- make a federal case (big deal)
- talk big
- think big
- too big for one's breeches
- what's the (big) idea
- bigger
Example Sentences
What has he learned on the road with country music’s biggest superstar?
After receiving rave reviews — and four Olivier Awards, including best musical — it transferred to Broadway for the 2024-25 season, becoming the first big show to reopen in the newly remodeled Palace Theatre.
Our study shows that the biggest opportunity is using sugar to feed microbes that make protein.
Ms Mason also recounted a conversation with Hutchins' mother 18 months ago during which she told her she wanted the film to be completed because it was her daughter’s "big work".
The Sidemen are used to making content for YouTube, but say they've now "hit the limit" on what they can achieve on the video sharing platform so are moving "to something even bigger".
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Related Words
More About Big
What is a basic definition of big?
Big describes something that is large in height, weight, size, or amount. Big can also describe something that is significant or, informally, something that is popular. Big has many other senses as an adjective and a few as an adverb and a noun.
Big can describe things that are tall, wide, massive, or plentiful. It’s a synonym of words such as large, great, and huge, describing something as being notably high in number or scale in some way.
- Real-life examples: The Grand Canyon is a big hole in the ground. Jupiter is a big planet. You would need a big box to hold 300 books. Skyscrapers are big buildings.
- Used in a sentence: The restaurant brought out a big table to seat all 30 of us.
Big also describes something that is very important, worrisome, alarming, influential, or similarly worthy of notice.
- Real-life examples: Jumping out of a plane without a parachute is a big mistake. A comet hitting Earth would be a big issue. The discovery of life on Mars would be big news.
- Used in a sentence: The mold in our house turned into a big problem when we found out it was toxic.
Big is used informally to mean that something is popular or widely known.
- Real-life examples: Disco was big in the 1970s. The internet started to become big in the 1990s when computers became affordable and connection speeds improved.
- Used in a sentence: The actor was big 10 years ago but now nobody knows who he is.
Where does big come from?
The first records of big come from around 1250. It comes from the Middle English big(ge), but any earlier origin is unknown.
Did you know … ?
What are some other forms related to big?
What are some synonyms for big?
What are some words that share a root or word element with big?
What are some words that often get used in discussing big?
How is big used in real life?
Big is a very common word that is most often used to describe something as being large in some way.
Big spider in my room so I've run away to another room 😂
— Shari ✨💙 (@Sharichantel) November 30, 2020
Potentially 182 days til hairdressers are open .. I’m in big trouble 👧🏻😂👧🏻
— Joshua Windass (@WindassJnr) April 24, 2020
Someone needs to bring the harmonica back to the spot light. It was big in the 90s and then just died in music. Someone bring it back!
— Caleb Combs (@Krouton_5) December 4, 2019
Try using big!
Is big used correctly in the following sentence?
The dog was so big that my friend thought it was a small horse.
More About Big
What is a basic definition of big?
Big describes something that is large in height, weight, size, or amount. Big can also describe something that is significant or, informally, something that is popular. Big has many other senses as an adjective and a few as an adverb and a noun.
Big can describe things that are tall, wide, massive, or plentiful. It’s a synonym of words such as large, great, and huge, describing something as being notably high in number or scale in some way.
- Real-life examples: The Grand Canyon is a big hole in the ground. Jupiter is a big planet. You would need a big box to hold 300 books. Skyscrapers are big buildings.
- Used in a sentence: The restaurant brought out a big table to seat all 30 of us.
Big also describes something that is very important, worrisome, alarming, influential, or similarly worthy of notice.
- Real-life examples: Jumping out of a plane without a parachute is a big mistake. A comet hitting Earth would be a big issue. The discovery of life on Mars would be big news.
- Used in a sentence: The mold in our house turned into a big problem when we found out it was toxic.
Big is used informally to mean that something is popular or widely known.
- Real-life examples: Disco was big in the 1970s. The internet started to become big in the 1990s when computers became affordable and connection speeds improved.
- Used in a sentence: The actor was big 10 years ago but now nobody knows who he is.
Where does big come from?
The first records of big come from around 1250. It comes from the Middle English big(ge), but any earlier origin is unknown.
Did you know … ?
What are some other forms related to big?
What are some synonyms for big?
What are some words that share a root or word element with big?
What are some words that often get used in discussing big?
How is big used in real life?
Big is a very common word that is most often used to describe something as being large in some way.
Big spider in my room so I've run away to another room 😂
— Shari ✨💙 (@Sharichantel) November 30, 2020
Potentially 182 days til hairdressers are open .. I’m in big trouble 👧🏻😂👧🏻
— Joshua Windass (@WindassJnr) April 24, 2020
Someone needs to bring the harmonica back to the spot light. It was big in the 90s and then just died in music. Someone bring it back!
— Caleb Combs (@Krouton_5) December 4, 2019
Try using big!
Is big used correctly in the following sentence?
The dog was so big that my friend thought it was a small horse.
When To Use
What are other ways to say big?
Something that is big is large in size, height, width, or amount. How is big different from great and large? Find out on Thesaurus.com.
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
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