big time
Americannoun
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Informal. the highest or most important level in any profession or occupation.
She's a talented violinist, but she's not ready for the big time.
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Slang. a very good time.
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Theater. (in vaudeville) any highly successful circuit of theaters that produces two performances daily.
noun
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An enjoyable or exciting time, as in The children came home exhausted but happy; they really had a big time at the circus . [Mid-1800s]
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The highest or most important level in any enterprise, as in I knew that when I made it through the last audition, I was finally in the big time . [ Colloquial ; c. 1900] Also see big league .
Other Word Forms
Etymology
Origin of big time
An Americanism dating back to 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.
I was working in nightclubs, all of my friends were in nightclubs, so I lived that big time.
From Los Angeles Times • Mar. 20, 2026
Herzog said that Iran had been seeking "10 times the amount of ballistic missiles, which would have threatened Europe big time".
From Barron's • Mar. 16, 2026
"We dropped our standards big time and we got punished for it."
From BBC • Feb. 18, 2026
And when you look there, you’ll see that Jerome Powell and the Fed have cut rates — big time.
From MarketWatch • Feb. 13, 2026
I figure I owe the city big time, and the least I can do is pick up this one piece of trash.
From "The Sky at Our Feet" by Nadia Hashimi
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.
