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  • big game
    big game
    noun
    large wild animals, especially when hunted for sport.
  • Big Game
    Big Game
    noun
    Usually the Big Game an alternate name for the Super Bowl, used in advertising by brands that are not official sponsors and therefore do not have permission to use the trademarked name of the NFL championship game.

big game

1 American  
[big geym] / ˈbɪg ˈgeɪm /

noun

  1. large wild animals, especially when hunted for sport.

    Expensive vacation packages to hunt big game like leopards or elephants in Africa are marketed almost exclusively to wealthy foreign tourists.

  2. large fish, as tuna and marlin, when sought by deep-sea anglers.

    Participants in the sport fishing tournament regularly return to shore with big game exceeding 200 pounds.

  3. a major objective, especially one that involves risk.

    The merger shows their commitment to the big game, in a market where half measures just won’t pay off.
Big Game 2 American  
[big geym] / ˈbɪg ˈgeɪm /

noun

Football.

  1. Usually the Big Game an alternate name for the Super Bowl, used in advertising by brands that are not official sponsors and therefore do not have permission to use the trademarked name of the NFL championship game.

    The best time to buy a new television is in late January, during sales promotions for the Big Game.
big game British  

noun

  1. large animals that are hunted or fished for sport

  2. informal the objective of an important or dangerous undertaking

"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

Etymology

Origin of big game

First recorded in 1860–65

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.

“Andy got hurt in the big game of reality.”

From Salon • Apr. 29, 2026

While he has talked a big game about adding potentially another five seats, that may just be impossible.

From Slate • Apr. 22, 2026

This is a big game for West Ham and, by the time they play it, they will know how all of their relegation rivals got on over the weekend.

From BBC • Apr. 16, 2026

On Tuesday, in St. John Bosco’s 7-4 win, Clark had another big game with two hits and three RBIs.

From Los Angeles Times • Apr. 3, 2026

There was some big game coming up this weekend, against Oklahoma or Oregon or something.

From "Eleanor & Park" by Rainbow Rowell

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.