heavy hitter

American  

noun

1. a baseball player who makes many extra-base hits.

2. a very important or influential person.

   the secretary of state and other heavy hitters.

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heavy hitter British  

noun

1. informal another term for big hitter

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heavy hitter Idioms  

1. An important or influential individual or organization. For example, This publishing house is one of the heavy hitters in the textbook industry. This expression originated in sports such as boxing, where it literally meant “hitting hard,” and was transferred to other enterprises in the mid-1900s.

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Other Word Forms

Derived Forms

• heavy-hitter
  adjective

Etymology

Origin of heavy hitter

First recorded in 1975–80

Example Sentences

The country icon’s always-stacked Outlaw Music Festival blows into the Gorge with arguably the heaviest of heavy hitter lineups this summer.

From Seattle Times • May 20, 2024

From a Latin music heavy hitter taking on serious acting to a famous Chilean heartthrob hanging out in Oakland, here are the 7 movies playing at Sundance that we are most excited about.

From Los Angeles Times • Feb. 1, 2024

The clout in search makes Google a heavy hitter in the lucrative advertising market, its biggest revenue source.

From Reuters • Oct. 30, 2023

Dubois is a heavy hitter, even if he lacks speed.

From Washington Times • Aug. 24, 2023

I must notice, too, that on other coins a hammer and pincers, or tongs, appear, as if the idea was to show that a maker, fabricator, or heavy hitter was intended to be symbolised.

From Ancient Pagan and Modern Christian Symbolism With an Essay on Baal Worship, On The Assyrian Sacred "Grove," And Other by Inman, Thomas