big business

American  

noun

1. large business, commercial, and financial firms taken collectively, especially when considered as a group having shared attitudes and goals and exercising control over economic policy, politics, etc.

2. any large organization of a noncommercial nature resembling this.

3. any large business enterprise.

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big business British  

noun

1. large commercial organizations collectively, esp when considered as exploitative or socially harmful

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big business Cultural  

1. Large corporations, as opposed to small individually or family-owned businesses.

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Etymology

Origin of big business

An Americanism dating back to 1900–05

Example Sentences

But time and time again, regular Americans who have been harmed by big business have sought redress for their harms in court.

From Slate • Apr. 27, 2026

"It's these multifaceted international relationships with big business that we really need to be strengthening far more than we have," he adds.

From BBC • Apr. 18, 2026

Yet credit-card interest is big business, Pierce and other researchers wrote.

From MarketWatch • Mar. 19, 2026

Brown says volatile gold swings drove the increase in exports, supported by an another volatile category, aircraft, which surged thanks to big business jet shipments to the U.S.

From The Wall Street Journal • Feb. 20, 2026

Astronauts were big business, particularly since American Alan Shepard had been launched into space on May 5, 1961, three weeks after Soviet cosmonaut Yuri Gagarin.

From "Women in Space" by Karen Bush Gibson

Related Words

• business
• commerce
• corporation
• management
• production
• trade