big idea
Americannoun
-
any plan or proposal that is grandiose, impractical, and usually unsolicited.
You're always coming around here with your big ideas.
-
purpose; intention; aim.
What's the big idea of shouting at me?
Etymology
Origin of big idea
An Americanism dating back to 1920–25
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.
Fifa's big idea is to set up the best chance of blockbuster ties in the latter stages of the World Cup.
From BBC
And yet, why is saving Spain not a Big Idea?
The credit default swap would solve the single biggest problem with Mike Burry’s big idea: timing.
From Literature
“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.”
From Literature
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.
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.
