at large

Cultural  

1. A descriptive term for the election of public officials by an entire governmental unit rather than by subdivisions of the unit. For example, a delegate at large does not represent any specific district or locale, but speaks instead for a much wider group of people.

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at large Idioms  

1. Free, unconfined, especially not confined in prison, as in To our distress, the housebreakers were still at large . [1300s]

2. At length, fully; also, as a whole, in general. For example, The chairman talked at large about the company's plans for the coming year , or, as Shakespeare wrote in Love's Labour's Lost (1:1): “So to the laws at large I write my name” (that is, I uphold the laws in general). This usage is somewhat less common. [1400s]

3. Elected to represent an entire group of voters rather than those in a particular district or other segment—for example, alderman at large , representing all the wards of a city instead of just one, or delegate at large to a labor union convention . [Mid-1700s]

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Example Sentences

The polls do not suggest for a second that the public at large is in the mood to do that.

From BBC

PARIS—French authorities said they’ve detained four more people in connection to the Louvre heist, including a man suspected of being the only thief to remain at large after purloining the nation’s crown jewels.

From The Wall Street Journal

It said police were responding to a “firearms complaint” in the town of Portapique — though officers already knew that there had been four homicides and that the gunman was at large.

From Washington Post

He also professed anxiety that the failure of smaller banks could shake confidence in his industry at large.

From New York Times

That is the component that consistently gets ignored, frankly, by the culture at large, by the world.

From Washington Post

Related Words

• able
• clear
• easy
• independent
• loose
• open
• unfettered
• unrestricted