Jump To:

• big brother
  big brother

  noun

  an elder brother.
• Big Brother
  Big Brother

  noun

  a person, organization, etc, that exercises total dictatorial control

big brother

American  

noun

1. an elder brother.

2. (sometimes initial capital letters) a man who individually or as a member of an organized group undertakes to sponsor or assist a boy in need of help or guidance.

3. (usually initial capital letters) the head of a totalitarian regime that keeps its citizens under close surveillance.

4. (usually initial capital letters) the aggregate of officials and policy makers of a powerful and pervasive state.

5. Citizens Band Radio Slang. a police officer or police car.

---

Big Brother British  

noun

1. a person, organization, etc, that exercises total dictatorial control

2. a television gameshow format in which a small number of people living in accommodation sealed off from the outside world are constantly monitored by TV cameras. Viewers vote each week to expel a person from the group until there is only one person left, who wins a cash prize

---

Usage

What does Big Brother mean? A big brother can be an older male, related or not, who protects a younger person. Big Brother (usually uppercase) also refers to an omnipresent, usually governmental authority that monitors everyone's every move. How is Big Brother pronounced?[ big bruhth-er ]

Etymology

Origin of big brother

1860–65; 1949 big brother for defs. 3, 4, the epithet of a dictator in G. Orwell's novel 1984

---

Example Sentences

See Examples For:

big brother Big Brother

I took it like I was a big brother to everybody, and the result was, they kept bringing me back.

From Los Angeles Times ● Oct. 14, 2026

She’s 17 years my senior, so when they got married, I was a kid — he became my big brother and was a masculine figure in my life and all that.

From Los Angeles Times ● Oct. 9, 2026

But they said they would always talk about her big brother William and had planted a memorial garden in his honour.

From BBC ● Oct. 7, 2026

I suspect they are terrible for privacy, and I dread what the future brings with some big brother company knowing all my intimate health info but I am still grateful for how much they help.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Sep. 17, 2026

At home Qareeb was a typical big brother, and when I pressed for information he gave me monosyllabic answers to my questions.

From "Proud" by Ibtihaj Muhammad

Otherwise you may find yourself in an empty parking lot, staring at where your Honda Accord used to be and wishing you hadn’t been so worried about Big Brother.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Sep. 1, 2026

Data-center wars, workplace AI fatigue, legal reckoning for social media…oh, and Big Brother is watching you.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 28, 2026

Following her departure from the Commons in 2010, Widdecombe appeared on BBC's Strictly Come Dancing that year, and was a runner-up on Celebrity Big Brother eight years later.

From BBC ● Jul. 12, 2026

Following her departure from the Commons, Widdecombe appeared on BBC's Strictly Come Dancing in 2010 and was a runner-up on Celebrity Big Brother eight years later.

From BBC ● Jul. 11, 2026

In the Party histories, of course, Big Brother figured as the leader and guardian of the Revolution since its very earliest days.

From "1984" by George Orwell

Random Word

Spin the wheel and learn a new word!

---