- a variation of bigg.
big
1 Americanadjective
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bigger,
comparative
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biggest
superlative
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large, as in size, height, width, or amount.
a big house; a big quantity.
- Antonyms:
- little
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of major concern, importance, gravity, or the like.
a big problem.
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outstanding for a specified quality.
a big liar; a big success.
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important, as in influence, standing, or wealth.
a big man in his field.
- Synonyms:
- consequential
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big enough to know better.
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my big sister.
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doing business or conducted on a large scale; major in size or importance.
big government.
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consisting of the largest or most influential companies in an industry.
Big steel wants to lower prices, but the smaller mills don't.
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Informal. known or used widely; popular.
Nouvelle cuisine became big in the 1970s.
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magnanimous; generous; kindly.
big enough to forgive.
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boastful; pompous; pretentious; haughty.
a big talker.
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a big voice.
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(of clothing or a clothing design) made of or distinguished by voluminous fabric that is loosely or softly shaped and fitted.
a big shirt; the big look.
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(of a wine) having more than average flavor, body, and alcoholic content.
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filled; brimming.
eyes big with tears.
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Chiefly South Midland and Southern U.S. pregnant.
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Obsolete. very strong; powerful.
adverb
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Informal. boastfully; pretentiously.
to act big; to talk big.
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Informal. with great success; successfully.
to go over big.
noun
idioms
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big with child. great.
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be big on, to have a special liking or enthusiasm for.
Mother is big on family get-togethers.
verb (used with object)
adjective
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of great or considerable size, height, weight, number, power, or capacity
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having great significance; important
a big decision
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important through having power, influence, wealth, authority, etc
the big four banks
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(intensifier usually qualifying something undesirable)
a big dope
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informal considerable in extent or intensity (esp in the phrase in a big way )
-
-
elder
my big brother
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grown-up
when you're big, you can stay up later
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-
-
generous; magnanimous
that's very big of you
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( in combination )
big-hearted
-
-
(often foll by with) brimming; full
my heart is big with sadness
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extravagant; boastful
he's full of big talk
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(of wine) full-bodied, with a strong aroma and flavour
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conceited; unduly self-confident
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in an advanced stage of pregnancy (esp in the phrase big with child )
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informal enthusiastic about
that company is big on research
adverb
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boastfully; pretentiously (esp in the phrase talk big )
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in an exceptional way; well
his talk went over big with the audience
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on a grand scale (esp in the phrase think big )
verb
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to build
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to excavate (earth) into a pile
Usage
What is a basic definition of big? Big describes something that is large in height, weight, size, or amount. Big can also describe something that is significant or, informally, something that is popular. Big has many other senses as an adjective and a few as an adverb and a noun. Big can describe things that are tall, wide, massive, or plentiful. It’s a synonym of words such as large, great, and huge, describing something as being notably high in number or scale in some way.
- Real-life examples: The Grand Canyon is a big hole in the ground. Jupiter is a big planet. You would need a big box to hold 300 books. Skyscrapers are big buildings.
- Used in a sentence: The restaurant brought out a big table to seat all 30 of us.
- Real-life examples: Jumping out of a plane without a parachute is a big mistake. A comet hitting Earth would be a big issue. The discovery of life on Mars would be big news.
- Used in a sentence: The mold in our house turned into a big problem when we found out it was toxic.
- Real-life examples: Disco was big in the 1970s. The internet started to become big in the 1990s when computers became affordable and connection speeds improved.
- Used in a sentence: The actor was big 10 years ago but now nobody knows who he is.
Other Word Forms
Derived Forms
Inflected Forms
Adjectives
Etymology
Origin of big1
First recorded in 1300–50; Middle English big(ge), beg(ge); of unknown origin
Origin of big2
First recorded in 1150–1200; Middle English biggen, beggen, buggen, originally, “to inhabit, reside,” from Old Norse byggja, byggva “to inhabit, settle,” cognate with Old English bū(i)an, German bauen “to build, erect”
Explanation
Something big is just plain large or important. A big class has a lot of kids. A big room is larger than average. A big newspaper story is one that makes the front page. Some people hate the idea of "big government" which means a federal government that plays a significant role in the day-to-day lives of its people. You might talk big at your reunion, but you really haven't traveled the world. (You went to Hoboken and Walla Walla!) Big can also pertain to age, as in "Will you be a big girl and get dressed all by yourself?"
Vocabulary lists containing big
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:
Chronic short sleep, frequent awakenings or big drops in oxygen warrant a visit to the doctor.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Sep. 6, 2026
At a Hilton Hotel bar near Tokyo, bartender Shingo Miyachi prepares a negroni with one of Kuramoto Ice's big, clear cubes.
From Barron's ● Sep. 6, 2026
There are big changes planned in the way pupils with SEN are supported.
From BBC ● Sep. 6, 2026
"Those rallies of big punches, combinations and that's how she finished her last fight."
From BBC ● Sep. 5, 2026
There was a big thanksgiving service in the church, and at the end of it, Sancho was given the keys to the town in a most ridiculous ceremony.
From "Adventures of Don Quixote" by Argentina Palacios
But in some of the bigger cities — New York, Los Angeles, Miami — there aren’t reminders everywhere you turn.
From Los Angeles Times ● Sep. 6, 2026
Perhaps, just like in the food chain, there will be another bigger predator that takes over the city, a secret third thing that turns this generic Roblox neighborhood into something even more unrecognizable.
From Slate ● Sep. 6, 2026
A few are bigger still: Meta Platforms, for example, forecasts its center in Northeast Louisiana will cost more than $50 billion.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Sep. 5, 2026
Dr Britto says the bigger issue for many children is whether they feel affection is "consistently communicated" which can come through both words and actions, or better yet a combination of the two.
From BBC ● Sep. 5, 2026
And you could see it was Aunt Fanny, bigger than a church debt, and all of us.
From "The Teacher’s Funeral" by Richard Peck
For 2027, employers are facing their biggest health-insurance increases in at least two decades.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Sep. 6, 2026
The biggest jump in recent years happened just after lockdown, beginning in May 2021, one month after all adults became eligible for vaccines nationwide.
From Slate ● Sep. 6, 2026
It’s been a remarkable year for Bad Bunny, one of pop music’s biggest stars.
From Los Angeles Times ● Sep. 6, 2026
Dark matter is one of the biggest unsolved mysteries in modern physics.
From Science Daily ● Sep. 6, 2026
This was the biggest crowd we saw from one year to the next.
From "The Teacher’s Funeral" by Richard Peck
I've bigged myself up about doing an Ironman, but now I'm starting to regret that!
From BBC ● Sep. 8, 2025
“This agreement has been bigged up as something that will be a solution to the world’s food shortage, and it is just not,” said Tracey Allen, an agricultural commodities strategist at JPMorgan Chase.
From New York Times ● Aug. 1, 2022
Brendan was never as good as people bigged him up to me.
From BBC ● Apr. 20, 2015
Across the world in Los Angeles, the Compton Cricket Club is bigged in by Cloth's Bullets – a song, like the CCC itself, dedicated to fighting homelessness and gang culture with civility and dignity.
From The Guardian ● Jul. 25, 2013
That city took Joshua by miracle of God and commandment of the angel, and destroyed it, and cursed it and all them that bigged it again.
From The Travels of Sir John Mandeville by Sir John Mandeville
The talk of their golden generation is about as misplaced as the chat about them bigging themselves up.
From BBC ● Mar. 7, 2025
Perhaps the city is not as forward about bigging itself up as somewhere like Manchester.
From BBC ● Oct. 3, 2024
Another massive performance and others aside from Sinfield might be bigging him up.
From Washington Times ● Oct. 19, 2023
GP I really don’t want it to sound like I’m bigging myself up.
From New York Times ● Dec. 9, 2021
He's thinking upon naething, like mony mighty men: A wee thing mak's us think, a sma' thing mak's us stare,— There are mair folk than him bigging castles in the air.
From The Home Book of Verse — Volume 1 by Burton Egbert Stevenson
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.
