Big Five

American  

noun

History/Historical.

1. the United States, Great Britain, France, Italy, and Japan during World War I and at the Paris Peace Conference in 1919.

2. (after World War II) the United States, Great Britain, the Soviet Union, China, and France.

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Big Five British  

noun

1. the five countries considered to be the major world powers. In the period immediately following World War II, the US, Britain, the Soviet Union, China, and France were regarded as the Big Five

2. the lion, the elephant, the rhinoceros, the buffalo, and the leopard: considered to be the five principal African wild animals, esp as sought by those on safari

3. Also: Big Four.   Big Three.  a small powerful group, as of banks, companies, etc

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Example Sentences

After all, it’s not as if sci-fi franchises like “Alien,” which “Badlands” is tangentially a part of, haven’t been nominated for Oscars in the past — even in the big five categories, where Sigourney Weaver was nominated for “Aliens” in 1987.

From Salon

Mainstream theatrical crowd pleasers like “F1: The Movie” and “Weapons” scored surprising nominations in the big five categories, while more typical Oscar-bait films like “Hamnet” and “Song Sung Blue” had their own modest showings.

From Salon

Kruger's fauna -- including the famed Big Five grouping of elephant, rhino, lion, leopard and buffalo -- had largely escaped the flooding because animals had sensed the danger and moved to higher lying areas.

From Barron's

The first 32-team Club World Cup had an impact, helping lift Bayern into the top three for the first time since 2020/21, while Benfica, in 19th spot on the 20-team list, are the first entrant outside the traditional "big five" leagues of England, Spain, Germany, Italy and France in four years.

From Barron's

Since 1992, England has proved the outlier in Europe's big five leagues, with 29 Italian wins in Serie A, 24 Germans in the Bundesliga, 23 French winners in Ligue 1 and 14 Spanish winners in La Liga.

From BBC