at large

Cultural  

1. A descriptive term for the election of public officials by an entire governmental unit rather than by subdivisions of the unit. For example, a delegate at large does not represent any specific district or locale, but speaks instead for a much wider group of people.

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at large Idioms  

1. Free, unconfined, especially not confined in prison, as in To our distress, the housebreakers were still at large . [1300s]

2. At length, fully; also, as a whole, in general. For example, The chairman talked at large about the company's plans for the coming year , or, as Shakespeare wrote in Love's Labour's Lost (1:1): “So to the laws at large I write my name” (that is, I uphold the laws in general). This usage is somewhat less common. [1400s]

3. Elected to represent an entire group of voters rather than those in a particular district or other segment—for example, alderman at large , representing all the wards of a city instead of just one, or delegate at large to a labor union convention . [Mid-1700s]

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Example Sentences

See Examples For:

at large

However, many in Hollywood, its unions, and the public at large are suspicious of the surge in AI use, worried it is stealing the work of human creatives and taking people’s jobs.

From Los Angeles Times ● Oct. 17, 2026

Research suggests cousin relationships are often built at large family gatherings—weddings, holidays, reunions—and as older generations disappear, so can those regular meetups.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Oct. 17, 2026

Rapid improvements in generative AI have made synthetic videos increasingly realistic, increasing the need for detection systems that are both accurate and capable of operating at large scale.

From Science Daily ● Oct. 1, 2026

Even as demand for AI processing power remains high, Wall Street has expressed caution about CoreWeave and specialized cloud providers at large.

From MarketWatch ● Sep. 23, 2026

Inmates are not at large at night, swarming around you on their way to chow, arguing with you when it’s time to “lock in,” calling you names, stressing you out.

From "Newjack: Guarding Sing Sing" by Ted Conover

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