at large
Cultural-
Free, unconfined, especially not confined in prison, as in To our distress, the housebreakers were still at large . [1300s]
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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]
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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]
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.
As a result, macroeconomic headwinds such as rising interest rates will become a bigger factor to the long-term success of the AI trade at large, according to Rinehart.
From MarketWatch ● Sep. 14, 2026
Many of the galaxies are also located at relatively high redshifts, meaning they are observed at large cosmic distances.
From Science Daily ● Sep. 4, 2026
Individually, they are stylists with distinct musical personalities, but they are exceptionally practiced in fitting in not only with each other but also with the orchestra at large.
From Los Angeles Times ● Aug. 27, 2026
The parish has slightly lower incomes and higher poverty than the state at large.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 25, 2026
And in a sense she would be right: the poor have disappeared from the culture at large, from its political rhetoric and intellectual endeavors as well as from its daily entertainment.
From "Nickel and Dimed: On (Not) Getting By in America" by Barbara Ehrenreich
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.
