big game
1 Americannoun
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large wild animals, especially when hunted for sport.
Expensive vacation packages to hunt big game like leopards or elephants in Africa are marketed almost exclusively to wealthy foreign tourists.
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large fish, as tuna and marlin, when sought by deep-sea anglers.
Participants in the sport fishing tournament regularly return to shore with big game exceeding 200 pounds.
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a major objective, especially one that involves risk.
The merger shows their commitment to the big game, in a market where half measures just won’t pay off.
noun
noun
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large animals that are hunted or fished for sport
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informal the objective of an important or dangerous undertaking
Etymology
Origin of big game
First recorded in 1860–65
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.
"I'm just a really big game show fan," she says by way of explanation.
From BBC
Viktor Gyokeres has started to hit his stride since the turn of the year, but has still been criticised for failing to impact big games.
From Barron's
You know you need to rest, there's big games coming up.
From BBC
Game and player data can also be used to create content like fantasy league face-offs that will keep fans coming back even in the off seasons, when there are no big games.
From Barron's
Two big games, right enough, but two games all the same.
From BBC
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.