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

“We kept talking about these tropes from ‘80s movies of slobs versus snobs,” and how it mirrored the mom-and-pop shop versus big business dynamic.

From Los Angeles Times • Mar. 20, 2026

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

From MarketWatch • Mar. 19, 2026

It’s exactly why the Guthrie case has become big business for so many media entities, independent or otherwise.

From Slate • Feb. 23, 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

Going into the Renaissance, artificial memory continued as big business.

From "Words Like Loaded Pistols" by Sam Leith

Related Words

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