Dictionary.com
Thesaurus.com
Synonyms

big wheel

American  

noun

Informal.
  1. an influential or important person.

    a big wheel in business.


big wheel British  

noun

  1. another name for a Ferris wheel

  2. informal an important person

"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

big wheel Idioms  
  1. see under big cheese.


Etymology

Origin of big wheel

First recorded in 1905–10

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.

See Examples For:

He says visitor numbers are currently looking good, partly due to the arrival of the big wheel.

From BBC Jul. 24, 2021

Paramedics loaded the injured hiker into a big wheel stretcher and safely got him down the rest of the trail.

From Washington Times Feb. 7, 2021

Kives’s road to becoming a big wheel in the Democratic money machine began in June 2001, when he was an undergraduate at Stanford.

From The Guardian Mar. 3, 2020

But opening the movie with a digitized version of Danny Torrance riding a big wheel through the hotel felt too inauthentic, he said.

From Los Angeles Times Nov. 8, 2019

He had a sack of bread dangling from his right hand and a big wheel of cheese under his left arm.

From "A Clash of Kings" by George R.R. Martin

Vocabulary.com logo
by dictionary.com

Dictionary.com's Learning Companion

Go beyond just looking up words.
Remember them forever with VocabTrainer.

Start training