big idea

noun

Informal.

1. any plan or proposal that is grandiose, impractical, and usually unsolicited.

   You're always coming around here with your big ideas.

2. purpose; intention; aim.

   What's the big idea of shouting at me?

Word History and Origins

Origin of big idea¹

An Americanism dating back to 1920–25

Example Sentences

And yet, why is saving Spain not a Big Idea?

Read more on The Wall Street Journal

“Any business where you can sell a product and make money without having to worry how the product performs is going to attract sleazy people. That was the seamy underbelly of the good idea. Eisman and I both believed in the big idea and we both met some really sleazy characters. That was our job: to figure out which of the characters were the right ones to pull off the big idea.”

Read more on Literature

The credit default swap would solve the single biggest problem with Mike Burry’s big idea: timing.

Read more on Literature

New officials come up with some big idea and say, “Now, let’s make everyone do it.”

Read more on The Wall Street Journal

At a Senate hearing I once attended, one member’s big idea was to write a dress code for all 100,000 public K-12 schools.

Read more on The Wall Street Journal

Related Words

• approach 
• attention 
• attitude 
• awareness 
• concept 
• consciousness 
• feeling 
• image 
• impression 
• judgment 
• knowledge 
• notion 
• opinion 
• recognition 
• sense 
• taste 
• thought 
• viewpoint