big idea
Americannoun
-
any plan or proposal that is grandiose, impractical, and usually unsolicited.
You're always coming around here with your big ideas.
-
purpose; intention; aim.
What's the big idea of shouting at me?
Etymology
Origin of big idea
An Americanism dating back to 1920–25
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.
And a big idea of my role there is not just to report on results, but to make sure the entire company understands what’s driving it—even understands the financial metrics.
From The Wall Street Journal • Mar. 30, 2026
The big idea, as with the Brixham fishermen's clinic, is to better tailor health services to local communities, and offer people more checks and tests to stop them falling sick in the first place.
From BBC • Aug. 7, 2025
Watching Ally and Jay bicker about work while dodging blades, the movie’s one big idea beams in all-caps: “His Girl Friday the 13th.”
From Los Angeles Times • Feb. 5, 2025
Still, there’s a very provocative big idea hiding under all theatrics: that once fashion enters the museum and falls into hands of a conservator it becomes an object and effectively “dies.”
From New York Times • May 9, 2024
And this last year, I think she got a big idea in her head, to go to China and find them herself.
From "The Joy Luck Club" by Amy Tan
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.
