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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 bootstoo big for one's bootstoo big for one's breeches conceited; unduly self-confident
- in an advanced stage of pregnancy (esp in the phrase big with child )
- big on informal.big on 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 )
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Derived Forms
- ˈbigness, noun
- ˈbiggish, adjective
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Other Words From
- biggish adjective
- bigly adverb adjective
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Word History and Origins
Origin of big1
Origin of big2
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Word History and Origins
Origin of big1
Origin of big2
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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
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Example Sentences
What we do know, as the report noted, is “the drop-off will be higher for more populated locations like big cities, with smaller reductions for outdoor and less-populated destinations.”
It was a broad-based drop that saw the big tech rally fade and travel and retail stocks tank on reopening worries.
A big thing we are leading the charge on is the … language that’s been used in gaming that has been tolerated.
In essence, clean rooms have enabled the big tech companies to become channel-specific agencies for their advertisers.
Now that the first wave of big announcements is winding down, raceAhead will be turning our attention to the nuts and bolts of the work that must happen in the longer term.
In that photo, Merabet has a big smile that spreads across his whole face and lights up his eyes.
The Big Five banks dubbed too big to fail, are 35 percent bigger than they were when the meltdown was triggered.
Their three-day scientific outing was paid for by Epstein and was big success.
I really wanted Trenchmouth to succeed and at the time wished we were as big as Green Day.
The big slug happened to hit the suspect in the street, passing through his arm and then striking Police Officer Andrew Dossi.
The big room at King's Warren Parsonage was already fairly well filled.
Sol laughed out of his whiskers, with a big, loose-rolling sound, and sat on the porch without waiting to be asked.
There were at least a dozen ladies seated round the big table at the Parsonage.
I pictured him as slim and young looking, smooth-faced, with golden curly hair, and big brown eyes.
Big Reginald took their lives at pool, and pocketed their half-crowns in an easy genial way, which almost made losing a pleasure.
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Related Words
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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.
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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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