- a variation of bigg.
big
1 Americanadjective
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large, as in size, height, width, or amount.
a big house; a big quantity.
- Antonyms:
- little
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of major concern, importance, gravity, or the like.
a big problem.
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outstanding for a specified quality.
a big liar; a big success.
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important, as in influence, standing, or wealth.
a big man in his field.
- Synonyms:
- consequential
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big enough to know better.
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my big sister.
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doing business or conducted on a large scale; major in size or importance.
big government.
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consisting of the largest or most influential companies in an industry.
Big steel wants to lower prices, but the smaller mills don't.
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Informal. known or used widely; popular.
Nouvelle cuisine became big in the 1970s.
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magnanimous; generous; kindly.
big enough to forgive.
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boastful; pompous; pretentious; haughty.
a big talker.
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a big voice.
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(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.
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(of a wine) having more than average flavor, body, and alcoholic content.
-
filled; brimming.
eyes big with tears.
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Chiefly South Midland and Southern U.S. pregnant.
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Obsolete. very strong; powerful.
adverb
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Informal. boastfully; pretentiously.
to act big; to talk big.
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Informal. with great success; successfully.
to go over big.
noun
idioms
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big with child. great.
-
be big on, to have a special liking or enthusiasm for.
Mother is big on family get-togethers.
verb (used with object)
adjective
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of great or considerable size, height, weight, number, power, or capacity
-
having great significance; important
a big decision
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important through having power, influence, wealth, authority, etc
the big four banks
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(intensifier usually qualifying something undesirable)
a big dope
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informal considerable in extent or intensity (esp in the phrase in a big way )
-
-
elder
my big brother
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grown-up
when you're big, you can stay up later
-
-
-
generous; magnanimous
that's very big of you
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( in combination )
big-hearted
-
-
(often foll by with) brimming; full
my heart is big with sadness
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extravagant; boastful
he's full of big talk
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(of wine) full-bodied, with a strong aroma and flavour
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conceited; unduly self-confident
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in an advanced stage of pregnancy (esp in the phrase big with child )
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informal enthusiastic about
that company is big on research
adverb
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boastfully; pretentiously (esp in the phrase talk big )
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in an exceptional way; well
his talk went over big with the audience
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on a grand scale (esp in the phrase think big )
verb
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to build
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to excavate (earth) into a pile
Usage
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.
- 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.
- 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.
Other Word Forms
Derived Forms
Inflected Forms
Adjectives
Etymology
Origin of big1
First recorded in 1300–50; Middle English big(ge), beg(ge); of unknown origin
Origin of big2
First recorded in 1150–1200; Middle English biggen, beggen, buggen, originally, “to inhabit, reside,” from Old Norse byggja, byggva “to inhabit, settle,” cognate with Old English bū(i)an, German bauen “to build, erect”
Explanation
Something big is just plain large or important. A big class has a lot of kids. A big room is larger than average. A big newspaper story is one that makes the front page. Some people hate the idea of "big government" which means a federal government that plays a significant role in the day-to-day lives of its people. You might talk big at your reunion, but you really haven't traveled the world. (You went to Hoboken and Walla Walla!) Big can also pertain to age, as in "Will you be a big girl and get dressed all by yourself?"
Vocabulary lists containing big
Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
See Examples For:
Oz explained that over the last two federal fiscal years, California’s spending on these in-home services grew 24%, compared to a national average of 12%—a big red flag.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jul. 22, 2026
“The timing could not be better with moviegoers, making clear this year that they love the unique experience of seeing a movie on the big screen.”
From Los Angeles Times ● Jul. 22, 2026
Rumors are aswirl that Trump’s son-in-law and Middle East emissary Jared Kushner played a big role.
From Slate ● Jul. 22, 2026
This is where professional help would make a big difference.
From MarketWatch ● Jul. 22, 2026
“Caesar will find us,” Father answers me with a big smile.
From "Will’s Race for Home" by Jewell Parker Rhodes
‘The opportunity for small cap, in active management, has never been bigger.’
From MarketWatch ● Jul. 22, 2026
Boxer Tyson Fury says modern-day sports stars think they are "bigger than they actually are" after choosing to fight in front of just 1,500 fans in Thailand instead of pursuing a more lucrative event elsewhere.
From BBC ● Jul. 22, 2026
Everything else about it was bigger too, most astonishingly the bottom line revealed by the document.
From Slate ● Jul. 22, 2026
Yun Sun, who directs the China program at the Stimson Center, sees Beijing pushing for a bigger delay.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jul. 21, 2026
And you could see it was Aunt Fanny, bigger than a church debt, and all of us.
From "The Teacher’s Funeral" by Richard Peck
The Red Sea maritime chokepoint, which has become the biggest export route for Saudi Arabia’s crude following the Strait of Hormuz closure, accounted for roughly 12% of the world’s seaborne oil flows before the war.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jul. 22, 2026
The inflation tracker that exerts the biggest influence on the actions of the Federal Reserve is getting a makeover just as a divided central bank weighs whether to raise U.S. interest rates this fall.
From MarketWatch ● Jul. 22, 2026
The strategy is designed to address one of the biggest obstacles in cancer care: drug resistance.
From Science Daily ● Jul. 22, 2026
The appointment is "wonderful news", said Sergiy Prytula, the head of one of Ukraine's biggest charities supporting the military.
From Barron's ● Jul. 22, 2026
But his biggest concern was how he was going to look on camera and what he was going to say.
From "Storm Runners" by Roland Smith
I've bigged myself up about doing an Ironman, but now I'm starting to regret that!
From BBC ● Sep. 8, 2025
I've suddenly got the fear we've bigged this up too much.
From BBC ● Mar. 12, 2024
“This agreement has been bigged up as something that will be a solution to the world’s food shortage, and it is just not,” said Tracey Allen, an agricultural commodities strategist at JPMorgan Chase.
From New York Times ● Aug. 1, 2022
This album has been bigged up by professional critics over the age of 50, but they are all closet fans.
From The Guardian ● Jun. 24, 2020
Rome was not bigged on the first Day.
From Collection of Scotch Proverbs by Stampoy, Pappity
The coach of Ireland bigging up an Ireland wing?
From BBC ● Jul. 2, 2025
Another massive performance and others aside from Sinfield might be bigging him up.
From Washington Times ● Oct. 19, 2023
GP I really don’t want it to sound like I’m bigging myself up.
From New York Times ● Dec. 9, 2021
"Let me just clear that up because obviously Leicester fans know how much respect I've got for them, their owners and constantly bigging up Leicester and what they do," Wright said on Twitter external-link.
From BBC ● Aug. 7, 2021
Mr. Oldbuck's "ecstatic description" of the Roman camp with its praetorium was spoilt by Edie Ochiltree's disastrous interruption "Praetorian here, praetorian there, I mind the bigging o't."
From The Romance of Names by Weekley, Ernest
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.
