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

Example Sentences

She added: "Your two sisters and big brother will always love and miss you to infinity... you will always and forever be in our hearts."

From BBC

I still had a great deal of little-sister worship for this big brother, five years older than I, an ordained minister and the only ten Boom who had ever been to college.

From Literature

It feels highly significant that at this key moment in Arteta's managerial career, he turned to a figure who had performed the role of a big brother to him at PSG.

From BBC

One of the senior scholars sitting on that floor—now someone I think of as my academic big brother—went on to become a mentor and collaborator.

From The Wall Street Journal

A childhood friend that Xi called his “big brother,” Zhang rose to prominence following the initial waves of dismissals—a move seen as placing a trusted ally at the helm of the military.

From The Wall Street Journal