big deal
- an important or impressive person or thing: to make a big deal out of nothing; I hear he's a big deal on Wall Street now.
- (used ironically as an interjection to indicate that one considers something to be unimportant or unimpressive): So you're the mayor's cousin—big deal!
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Origin of big deal
First recorded in 1945–50
Dictionary.com Unabridged
Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2018
big deal
- slang an exclamation of scorn, derision, etc, used esp to belittle a claim or offer
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Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition
© William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins
Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012
Word Origin and History for big deal
from mid-19c. in poker or business; as an ironic expression, popular in American English from c.1965, perhaps a translated Yiddishism (cf. a groyser kunst).
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Online Etymology Dictionary, © 2010 Douglas Harper
Idioms and Phrases with big deal
big deal
A matter of great interest or importance, as in Performing in Symphony Hall is a big deal for everyone in the chorus. [c. 1940] Also see under make a federal case out of.
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So what? Who cares? For example, So you got the job after all—well, big deal! This use of the phrase as an ironic interjection dates from approximately the same time.
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The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary
Copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.