big brother
noun
an elder brother.
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big brother
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Big Brother
Big Brothernouna person, organization, etc, that exercises total dictatorial control
big brother
Americannoun
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an elder brother.
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(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.
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(usually initial capital letters) the head of a totalitarian regime that keeps its citizens under close surveillance.
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(usually initial capital letters) the aggregate of officials and policy makers of a powerful and pervasive state.
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Citizens Band Radio Slang. a police officer or police car.
Big Brother
British
noun
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a person, organization, etc, that exercises total dictatorial control
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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
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
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:
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
“He was a big brother to me,” Díaz said.
From Los Angeles Times ● Aug. 12, 2026
"England is our big brother, and sometimes you don't want your big brother to do well, do you?"
From BBC ● Jul. 14, 2026
“I hope I’m not annoying him,” Simpson said, “but I really appreciate the big brother kind of role he’s playing in my development.”
From Los Angeles Times ● Jun. 22, 2026
Alex could join Luma’s older team with Grace’s big brother Josue.
From "Outcasts United: An American Town, a Refugee Team, and One Woman's Quest to Make a Difference" by Warren St. John
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
Following her departure from the Commons, Widdecombe appeared on BBC's Strictly Come Dancing in 2010 and was a runner-up on Celebrity Big Brother eight years later.
From BBC ● Jul. 11, 2026
Kohli - who appeared on celebrity versions of Big Brother and Masterchef - denied a total of 20 charges via his legal team during a hearing at the High Court in Glasgow.
From BBC ● Jun. 26, 2026
Civil liberties campaigning group Big Brother Watch slammed the live facial recognition expansion as an "alarming escalation of an intrusive technology".
From Barron's ● Jun. 24, 2026
Very likely as many as a dozen people were now working away on rival versions of what Big Brother had actually said.
From "1984" by George Orwell
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.
