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Big Apple

British

noun

informal New York City

"Collins English Dictionary — Complete & Unabridged" 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012

Etymology

Origin of Big Apple

C20: probably from US jazzmen's earlier use to mean any big, esp northern, city; of obscure origin

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.

But the trip to the Big Apple also illuminated another path for Moreno.

From Los Angeles Times • Feb. 27, 2026

Some 1.4 million residents in the Big Apple are food insecure, meaning they're unable to regularly access affordable, healthy food.

From Barron's • Nov. 28, 2025

The Big Apple adds a local tax of 3.88%, for a combined take of 14.8%, the highest anywhere in America.

From The Wall Street Journal • Nov. 10, 2025

Affordable housing and inflation have consistently ranked among the top concerns for Big Apple voters this election.

From MarketWatch • Nov. 4, 2025

The protest in New York was on at the moment, but let me tell you, it didn’t look like a love train chugging through the Big Apple.

From "Anthem of a Reluctant Prophet" by Joanne Proulx

Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023