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• 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.

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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

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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

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Example Sentences

See Examples For:

big brother Big Brother

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

The Reduce’s big brother — the original Speedmaster — was introduced by Omega in 1957 as a racing chronograph, designed with a tachymetre bezel, a face with multiple dials and a stopwatch function.

From Los Angeles Times ● Aug. 14, 2026

“He was a big brother to me,” Díaz said.

From Los Angeles Times ● Aug. 12, 2026

Patricia McLure, one of Anthony Littler's few surviving close relatives, holds a photograph of the cousin who was "like a big brother"

From BBC ● Jul. 10, 2026

Theo writes an anguished letter to his big brother, the only time ever he addresses him as “Mon tres cher frere” my very dear brother.

From "Vincent and Theo: The Van Gogh Brothers" by Deborah Heiligman

Tom and Charles took in the 1960s counterculture in the city, going to see bands like the Grateful Dead, Jefferson Airplane, and Big Brother and the Holding Company.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Oct. 2, 2026

Andrew Tate, who is a self-proclaimed "misogynist", first rose to fame after a 2016 appearance on the British version of reality TV show Big Brother.

From BBC ● Sep. 17, 2026

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

She also appeared on Celebrity Big Brother in 2018.

From BBC ● Jul. 11, 2026

Partly it was a sort of hymn to the wisdom and majesty of Big Brother, but still more it was an act of selfhypnosis, a deliberate drowning of consciousness by means of rhythmic noise.

From "1984" by George Orwell

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