big business

American  

noun

1. large business, commercial, and financial firms taken collectively, especially when considered as a group having shared attitudes and goals and exercising control over economic policy, politics, etc.

2. any large organization of a noncommercial nature resembling this.

3. any large business enterprise.

---

big business British  

noun

1. large commercial organizations collectively, esp when considered as exploitative or socially harmful

---

big business Cultural  

1. Large corporations, as opposed to small individually or family-owned businesses.

---

Etymology

Origin of big business

An Americanism dating back to 1900–05

Example Sentences

However, OpenAI's move also reflects how big tech does big business.

From BBC • Apr. 9, 2026

“We kept talking about these tropes from ‘80s movies of slobs versus snobs,” and how it mirrored the mom-and-pop shop versus big business dynamic.

From Los Angeles Times • Mar. 20, 2026

Yet credit-card interest is big business, Pierce and other researchers wrote.

From MarketWatch • Mar. 19, 2026

Fewer consumers are paying attention to PCs these days in a tech world dominated by talk of AI and smartphones, but laptops are still a big business.

From The Wall Street Journal • Feb. 22, 2026

“Himself not especially susceptible to flattery except in a sentimental way, he soon learned its efficacy when plastered thick on big business men,” Sullivan wrote.

From "The Devil in the White City" by Erik Larson

Related Words

• business
• commerce
• corporation
• management
• production
• trade