big fish
Britishnoun
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an important or powerful person
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the most important or powerful person in a small group
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.
She was a big fish in a small and comfortable pond.
From Salon • Mar. 24, 2026
“She always said she’d rather be a big fish in a little pond than a little fish in a big pond,” said her daughter, Melissa Davitt-Smith.
From The Wall Street Journal • Jan. 29, 2026
The first arrests in connection with the scandal -- eight members of the country's Department of Public Works and Highways -- were announced only days ago, with the government promising "big fish are coming soon".
From Barron's • Nov. 30, 2025
"They physically cannot swallow large objects like kayaks, tires, or even big fish like tuna," he said.
From BBC • Feb. 14, 2025
There were fish— big fish with protruding foreheads and very long dorsal fins, dorados they are called, and smaller fish, lean and long, unknown to me, and smaller ones still—and there were sharks.
From "Life of Pi" by Yann Martel
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.
