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.
At a Senate hearing I once attended, one member’s big idea was to write a dress code for all 100,000 public K-12 schools.
From The Wall Street Journal • Oct. 16, 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
While waiting for a delayed train on a cold railway station platform back in 2016 a 30-something tech enthusiast had his big idea.
From BBC • Dec. 21, 2024
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
“What was this big idea you had, anyway?”
From "Insignificant Events in the Life of a Cactus" by Dusti Bowling
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.
