heavy hitter

American  

noun

1. a baseball player who makes many extra-base hits.

2. a very important or influential person.

   the secretary of state and other heavy hitters.

---

heavy hitter British  

noun

1. informal another term for big hitter

---

heavy hitter Idioms  

1. An important or influential individual or organization. For example, This publishing house is one of the heavy hitters in the textbook industry. This expression originated in sports such as boxing, where it literally meant “hitting hard,” and was transferred to other enterprises in the mid-1900s.

---

Other Word Forms

• heavy-hitter adjective

Etymology

Origin of heavy hitter

First recorded in 1975–80

Example Sentences

One of the real heavy hitters when it comes to energy use in any new building, and especially in hospitals, are the water heaters.

From Los Angeles Times

Stocks of AI hyperscalers have continued to rise, but there was one glaring exception among the heavy hitters this week.

From MarketWatch

The administration has sent a string of heavy hitters to Israel this week to make sure the fighting doesn’t resume.

From The Wall Street Journal

Dickinson has cited inspiration from a substantial slate of heavy hitters, Mike Leigh’s “Naked,” Leos Carax’s “The Lovers on the Bridge” and Agnès Varda‘s “Vagabond” — all of which sculpted his approach.

From Los Angeles Times

In her reshuffle, former Home Secretary James Cleverly was brought back to the front bench, with Badenoch saying that she wanted to "make sure all our heavy hitters" are there.

From BBC