View synonyms for big brother

big brother

noun

an elder brother.
(sometimes initial capital letters) a man who individually or as a member of an organized group undertakes to sponsor or assist a boy in need of help or guidance.
(usually initial capital letters) the head of a totalitarian regime that keeps its citizens under close surveillance.
(usually initial capital letters) the aggregate of officials and policy makers of a powerful and pervasive state.
Citizens Band Radio Slang. a police officer or police car.

Big Brother

a person, organization, etc, that exercises total dictatorial control
a television gameshow format in which a small number of people living in accommodation sealed off from the outside world are constantly monitored by TV cameras. Viewers vote each week to expel a person from the group until there is only one person left, who wins a cash prize

1860–65; 1949 big brother fordefs 3, 4, the epithet of a dictator in G. Orwell's novel 1984

C20: after a character in George Orwell's novel 1984 (1949)

I did love him like a big brother, and miss him all the time.

He knew I loved him like a big brother, and I knew the feeling was mutual.

He makes them fall in love with Big Brother, and in the end they do.

But Big Brother contestants, already ensconced in the house for two months, were almost entirely in the dark.

Only two broadcasts can be counted on to be on the air no matter what time it is: news reports and Big Brother.

He stood up bravely and marched along, yawning, while his big brother and sister almost swung him between them.

When, at length, the smoke of the “big brother” was observed drawing near, the people flocked in hundreds to the piers and cliffs.

"You naughty fairy," said her big brother, catching her and handing her over to mammy after the kiss was bestowed.

Engineered by Billoughby, the railroad was simply playing the part of the good big brother to these new middlemen.

Well, you're a coward, a good-for-nothing coward, and so is your big brother.

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