big
/bɪɡ
/adjective (bigger, biggest)
1Of considerable size or extent: her big hazel eyes big buildings big staff cuts...
- The brand is a well made children's line, which is cut on the big size for plenty of wear.
- He said, you'll have to take a big cut in salary and you'll have to start at the bottom.
- Within a few minutes the men cut down two big branches from the tree.
Synonyms
large, sizeable, of considerable size, substantial, considerable, great, huge, immense, enormous, extensive, colossal, massive, mammoth, vast, prodigious, tremendous, gigantic, giant, monumental, mighty, stupendous, gargantuan, elephantine, titanic, epic, mountainous, megalithic, monstrous, Brobdingnagian;
towering, tall, high, lofty;
outsize, oversized, overgrown, cumbersome, unwieldy;
inordinate, unlimited, goodly;
capacious, voluminous, commodious, spacious, good-size(d), fair-size(d);
king-size(d), man-size, family-size(d), economy-size(d)
informal jumbo, whopping, whopping great, thumping, thumping great, bumper, mega, humongous, monster, astronomical, cosmic, almighty, dirty great, socking great, tidy
British informal whacking, whacking great, ginormous
literary massy
well built, sturdily built, heavily built, sturdy, brawny, burly, broad-shouldered, muscular, muscly, well muscled, robust, rugged, lusty, Herculean, bulky, strapping, thickset, stocky, solid, hefty, meaty;
tall, huge, gigantic;
fat, stout, portly, plump, heavy, overweight, oversize, fleshy, paunchy, corpulent, obese, gargantuan, elephantine
informal hunky, hulking, beefy, husky
North American informal buff
dated stalwart
literary thewy, stark
1.1 [attributive] Larger than other items of the same kind: my big toe...
- It was around this time that Tim developed frostbite on his big toe.
- Attacks often happen at night and in 70 per cent of cases the first area to be affected is the joint of the big toe.
- The jury found him not guilty of one charge of grievous bodily harm - a fractured big toe on the child's left foot.
1.2Grown-up: I’m a big girl now...
- So, I told her that she is a big girl, that she has a phone number and if she wants to organise a party she can do it herself.
- If she gets in the way, it's unfortunate, but she's a big girl, she knows the score.
- The big girls and boys, who were already five, were allowed to bring me up and show it to me.
Synonyms
grown-up, adult, mature, grown, full grown;
elder, older
1.3 [attributive] Elder: my big sister...
- Like my big sister, I've a gift of time, but no idea what to do with it.
- With her big sister, Stephanie, who is also an accomplished violinist, she grew up in the region.
- If he can cast my big sister out, he wouldn't think twice about casting me out.
1.4 informal On an ambitiously large scale: a small company with big plans...
- Although his dad has big ambitions for him, financial constraints are a problem.
- For once, they are the big spenders, with the big ambitions and better players.
- Its ambition was to create big films that could make an impact on the US market.
Synonyms
ambitious, far-reaching, on a grand scale;
grandiose, unrealistic, overambitious
1.5 [attributive] informal Doing a specified action very often or on a very large scale: a big eater a big gambler...
- Mickelson may be a big gambler, but all too often when the pressure is at its most intense he has left himself a busted flush.
- We're not big bean eaters in my household so doubtless I'll have plenty of spare to offer around at work.
- Though she was not a big eater herself, she enjoyed making other people happy with her meals.
1.6 [attributive] informal Showing great enthusiasm: a big tennis fan...
- The affable star is big on eye contact, and smiles easily and often.
- Japanese cookery is big on freshness, using produce in season and sourced locally, where possible.
- As tourist must-sees go, this part of Brittany isn't big on manufactured attractions.
2Of considerable importance or seriousness: it’s a big decision his biggest problem is money he made a big mistake...
- She got it wrong on the restart, a little mistake but big consequences for everybody else.
- This was a big mistake and he always regretted the decision to give the plane to the museum.
- He doesn't wield any real power as long as the committee gets to make the big decisions.
Synonyms
important, significant, major, of great import, of significance, momentous, of moment, weighty, consequential, of consequence, far-reaching, key, vital, critical, crucial, life-and-death, high-priority, serious, grave, solemn;
no joke, no laughing matter
2.1 informal Very popular or successful: African bands which are big in Britain
Synonyms
popular, successful, commercially successful, in demand, sought-after, all the rage
informal hot, in, cool, trendy, now, hip
British informal, dated all the go
2.2 informal Holding an important position or playing an influential role: as a senior in college, he was a big man on campus...
- Michael, a young American poet, was a big influence on me at that time.
- Because of the greater variability in the consumers, research plays a big role.
- He was a big influence during his time at the Crown Ground and it's thanks to him in many ways that we've got where we are today.
Synonyms
powerful, important, prominent, influential, high-powered, leading, pre-eminent, of high standing, outstanding, well known, eminent, distinguished, principal, foremost, noteworthy, notable, noted;
North American major-league
3 [predicative] informal, often ironic Generous: ‘I’m inclined to take pity on you.’ ‘That’s big of you!’...
- It was big of you to come out and say that you actually saw a Sunday matinee when it was still in theaters.
- I think it was very, very big of him to come after being asked to step down.
- That was very big of you to admit your faults.
Synonyms
generous, kind, kindly, kind-hearted, caring, compassionate, loving, benevolent, magnanimous, unselfish, altruistic, selfless, philanthropic
verb (bigs, bigging, bigged) [with object] (big something up) British informal
Praise or recommend something highly: the record’s been on the streets a while now, but it’s certainly still worth bigging up...
- There are posters all over the place bigging it up, but it is so nondescript from the outside that it's easy to mistake for a regular hedge.
- United bigged him up on tour and then dropped him like a stone on his return to Manchester.
- I don't want to big it up too much, as then the whole experience might fail to meet my expectations.
noun (the bigs) North American informal
The major league in a professional sport.Unlike other parts of the Caribbean, where seeing the hometown boys in the bigs is a source of pride, the Mexican baseball powers have decided to keep the product local....
- What are the most important metrics you use in evaluating whether a minor leaguer can be successful in the bigs?
- But as the first minor-leaguer I followed to make good in the bigs, he holds a special distinction in my eyes.
Phrases
big with child
the Big Board
big cheese
Big Chief
the big five
the big idea
the big lie
big money
the big screen
big shot
the big stick
the Big Three (or Four etc.)
come (or go) over big
give someone the big E
in a big way
make it big
talk big
think big
too big for one's boots (or dated breeches)
Derivatives
biggish
- This is a biggish step up for him but he has the class.
- For an asking price of £700,000, you get a biggish three- or four- bedroom house with a large living/dining area.
- So I looked again and, sure enough, in sheltered water behind a biggish rock there were two creatures.
bigness
/ noun ...- This bigness of heart, this largesse of the soul, is a characteristic of hers that has been remarked on frequently, though in all honesty I must say I have never experienced it firsthand.
- ‘When you see the bigness of a show like that and the impact it makes, you can't help but want to do something like that,’ John said.
- Truly, it is that bigness that we all should be seeking.
Origin
Middle English (in the sense 'strong, mighty'): of unknown origin.
Like many small words, big appeared from nowhere. It is first recorded in the early Middle Ages meaning ‘strong, powerful’, and clear examples referring just to size do not emerge until the 16th century. The sense ‘elder’ as in big brother or big sister is first found in the 19th century. In George Orwell's novel Nineteen Eighty-four the head of state is called Big Brother, and ‘Big Brother is watching you’ is the caption on posters showing his face. The novel was published in 1949, and very quickly people started using Big Brother to refer to any person or organization exercising total control over people's lives. Various other phrases involving big refer to an important or influential person, such as big cheese, which first came into use in American slang during the early 1900s. It almost certainly has no connection with food—the word cheese here probably comes from Urdu and Persian cīz, which just means ‘thing’.