big tent

American  

noun

1. a political party's or coalition's policy or doctrine of allowing and encouraging a wide range of beliefs, opinions, and views among its members.

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big tent British  

noun

1. 1. a political approach in which a party claims to be open to a wide spectrum of constituents and groups

   2. ( as modifier )

      big-tent politics

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Other Word Forms

• big-tent
  adjective

Etymology

Origin of big tent

First recorded in 1960–65

Example Sentences

See Examples For:

big tent

Finding that big tent of voters gets tougher and tougher.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Jan. 18, 2026

Where do we draw the line of who gets invited into the big tent?

From Slate ● Oct. 21, 2025

Their big tent encompasses not just international socialist and social democratic parties but also Greens, Liberals - and even some former Conservatives.

From BBC ● Sep. 25, 2025

“It really has become the big tent of streaming. They’ve invested pretty significantly to develop a stockpile of content.”

From Los Angeles Times ● Jun. 1, 2025

I asked where we’d stay, and Ruth said we could borrow a big tent.

From "Never Let Me Go" by Kazuo Ishiguro