- a variation of bigg.
big
1 Americanadjective
-
bigger,
comparative
-
biggest
superlative
-
large, as in size, height, width, or amount.
a big house; a big quantity.
- Antonyms:
- little
-
of major concern, importance, gravity, or the like.
a big problem.
-
outstanding for a specified quality.
a big liar; a big success.
-
important, as in influence, standing, or wealth.
a big man in his field.
- Synonyms:
- consequential
-
big enough to know better.
-
my big sister.
-
doing business or conducted on a large scale; major in size or importance.
big government.
-
consisting of the largest or most influential companies in an industry.
Big steel wants to lower prices, but the smaller mills don't.
-
Informal. known or used widely; popular.
Nouvelle cuisine became big in the 1970s.
-
magnanimous; generous; kindly.
big enough to forgive.
-
boastful; pompous; pretentious; haughty.
a big talker.
-
a big voice.
-
(of clothing or a clothing design) made of or distinguished by voluminous fabric that is loosely or softly shaped and fitted.
a big shirt; the big look.
-
(of a wine) having more than average flavor, body, and alcoholic content.
-
filled; brimming.
eyes big with tears.
-
Chiefly South Midland and Southern U.S. pregnant.
-
Obsolete. very strong; powerful.
adverb
-
Informal. boastfully; pretentiously.
to act big; to talk big.
-
Informal. with great success; successfully.
to go over big.
noun
idioms
-
big with child. great.
-
be big on, to have a special liking or enthusiasm for.
Mother is big on family get-togethers.
verb (used with object)
adjective
-
of great or considerable size, height, weight, number, power, or capacity
-
having great significance; important
a big decision
-
important through having power, influence, wealth, authority, etc
the big four banks
-
(intensifier usually qualifying something undesirable)
a big dope
-
informal considerable in extent or intensity (esp in the phrase in a big way )
-
-
elder
my big brother
-
grown-up
when you're big, you can stay up later
-
-
-
generous; magnanimous
that's very big of you
-
( in combination )
big-hearted
-
-
(often foll by with) brimming; full
my heart is big with sadness
-
extravagant; boastful
he's full of big talk
-
(of wine) full-bodied, with a strong aroma and flavour
-
conceited; unduly self-confident
-
in an advanced stage of pregnancy (esp in the phrase big with child )
-
informal enthusiastic about
that company is big on research
adverb
-
boastfully; pretentiously (esp in the phrase talk big )
-
in an exceptional way; well
his talk went over big with the audience
-
on a grand scale (esp in the phrase think big )
verb
-
to build
-
to excavate (earth) into a pile
Usage
What is a basic definition of big? Big describes something that is large in height, weight, size, or amount. Big can also describe something that is significant or, informally, something that is popular. Big has many other senses as an adjective and a few as an adverb and a noun. Big can describe things that are tall, wide, massive, or plentiful. It’s a synonym of words such as large, great, and huge, describing something as being notably high in number or scale in some way.
- Real-life examples: The Grand Canyon is a big hole in the ground. Jupiter is a big planet. You would need a big box to hold 300 books. Skyscrapers are big buildings.
- Used in a sentence: The restaurant brought out a big table to seat all 30 of us.
- Real-life examples: Jumping out of a plane without a parachute is a big mistake. A comet hitting Earth would be a big issue. The discovery of life on Mars would be big news.
- Used in a sentence: The mold in our house turned into a big problem when we found out it was toxic.
- Real-life examples: Disco was big in the 1970s. The internet started to become big in the 1990s when computers became affordable and connection speeds improved.
- Used in a sentence: The actor was big 10 years ago but now nobody knows who he is.
Other Word Forms
Derived Forms
Inflected Forms
Adjectives
Etymology
Origin of big1
First recorded in 1300–50; Middle English big(ge), beg(ge); of unknown origin
Origin of big2
First recorded in 1150–1200; Middle English biggen, beggen, buggen, originally, “to inhabit, reside,” from Old Norse byggja, byggva “to inhabit, settle,” cognate with Old English bū(i)an, German bauen “to build, erect”
Explanation
Something big is just plain large or important. A big class has a lot of kids. A big room is larger than average. A big newspaper story is one that makes the front page. Some people hate the idea of "big government" which means a federal government that plays a significant role in the day-to-day lives of its people. You might talk big at your reunion, but you really haven't traveled the world. (You went to Hoboken and Walla Walla!) Big can also pertain to age, as in "Will you be a big girl and get dressed all by yourself?"
Vocabulary lists containing big
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.
See Examples For:
“Just because you’ve got an internship offer at one place and have seen that big paycheck, it doesn’t mean you’ve made it,” he says.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Oct. 8, 2026
"Clearly it was failing to compete in the premium market, they've had to completely reinvent it, take it luxury and electric and that is a big gamble."
From BBC ● Oct. 8, 2026
“We need more people to talk about this and not stay quiet. Kacey is coming from another community and stepping up, I mean, that’s big, man. That’s huge. I commend her for that,” said Muñoz.
From Los Angeles Times ● Oct. 8, 2026
American consumers are spending big, and household spending has grown faster over the past 12 months as of August than it did last year.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Oct. 8, 2026
He was some breed of mutt with ears too big and a mishmash of white-and.brown fur.
From "Legendary Frybread Drive-In" by Cynthia Leitich Smith
That would help Oracle avoid borrowing more money itself, keeping debt costs under control as the company competes against larger tech firms with bigger war chests.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Oct. 7, 2026
However, as their earnings skyrocket, many workers are demanding a bigger cut of profits.
From Barron's ● Oct. 7, 2026
He’s promised not to make the system any bigger, though he does want to build “a really big sub.”
From Los Angeles Times ● Oct. 7, 2026
“The bigger question is, would we really be able to trust them to provide truthful information concerning the event even if they do decide to elaborate further?”
From The Wall Street Journal ● Oct. 7, 2026
“Oh, I’m sure they were plenty scared, Lala. But they did what had to be done because the movement was bigger than their fears.”
From "Split the Sky" by Marie Arnold
A pilot’s suspected attempt to crash a Boeing BA -0.79%decrease; down pointing triangle 737 MAX bound for Israel shows how one of aviation’s biggest safety threats is in the cockpit.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Oct. 8, 2026
Workers are being paid a basic wage of less than £1 an hour to make official football shirts for some of the world's biggest clubs, BBC Sport can reveal.
From BBC ● Oct. 8, 2026
The two days of discussions by EU trade commissioner Maros Sefcovic in Beijing come just as France and Germany, the bloc's two biggest powers, threaten to up the ante.
From Barron's ● Oct. 7, 2026
The biggest declines have been in sectors tied to interest rates.
From MarketWatch ● Oct. 7, 2026
The biggest fish Dad and Uncle Kai ever caught.
From "Clairboyance" by Kristiana Kahakauwila
I've bigged myself up about doing an Ironman, but now I'm starting to regret that!
From BBC ● Sep. 8, 2025
"We bigged him up before kick off for his technical abilities, and he has just shown them again here. This guy is an outstanding player."
From BBC ● Dec. 3, 2023
“This agreement has been bigged up as something that will be a solution to the world’s food shortage, and it is just not,” said Tracey Allen, an agricultural commodities strategist at JPMorgan Chase.
From New York Times ● Aug. 1, 2022
This album has been bigged up by professional critics over the age of 50, but they are all closet fans.
From The Guardian ● Jun. 24, 2020
Rome was not bigged on the first Day.
From Collection of Scotch Proverbs by Pappity Stampoy
"My first response was embarrassment because I'm not one for bigging myself up," he says.
From BBC ● Nov. 21, 2025
That said, this England group is always bigging each other up so it is hard to know.
From BBC ● Feb. 26, 2025
Another massive performance and others aside from Sinfield might be bigging him up.
From Washington Times ● Oct. 19, 2023
GP I really don’t want it to sound like I’m bigging myself up.
From New York Times ● Dec. 9, 2021
He has mair sense than to ca' anything about the bigging his ain, frae the rooftree down to a crackit trencher on the bink.
From The Antiquary — Volume 02 by Sir Walter Scott
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.
