big·wig

[big-wig]
noun Informal.
an important person, especially an official: senators and other political bigwigs.

Origin:
1725–35; rhyming compound from phrase big wig, i.e., person important enough to wear such a wig

big·wigged, adjective
big·wig·ged·ness [big-wig-id-nis] , noun
Dictionary.com Unabridged
Based on the Random House Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2013.
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World English Dictionary
bigwig (ˈbɪɡˌwɪɡ) [Click for IPA pronunciation guide]
 
n
informal an important person

Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 10th Edition
2009 © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins
Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009
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00:10
Bigwig is always a great word to know.
So is callithumpian. Does it mean:
a children's mummer's parade, as on the Fourth of July, with prizes for the best costumes.
a printed punctuation mark (‽), available only in some typefaces, designed to combine the question mark (?) and the exclamation point (!), indicating a mixture of query and interjection, as after a rhetorical question.
Etymonline
Word Origin & History

bigwig
1731, from big + wig, in ref. to the imposing wigs formerly worn by men of rank or authority.
Online Etymology Dictionary, © 2010 Douglas Harper
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Slang Dictionary

bigwig definition


  1. n.
    an important person; a self-important person. : Some bigwig in a pinstripe suit waltzed through and asked me to leave.
Dictionary of American Slang and Colloquial Expressions by Richard A. Spears.Fourth Edition.
Copyright 2007. Published by McGraw Hill.
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Example sentences
He was threatened by a cosmological bigwig, who told him he'd be regarded as a crank if he kept it up.
Normally, when a party applauds a defeated or deposed bigwig there is a strong whiff of hypocrisy in the air.
Usually it will go to a village bigwig, perhaps with a little help from local officials.
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