large-scale
Americanadjective
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very extensive or encompassing; of great scope.
a large-scale business plan.
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made to a large scale.
a large-scale map.
adjective
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wide-ranging or extensive
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(of maps and models) constructed or drawn to a big scale
Etymology
Origin of large-scale
First recorded in 1885–90
Compare meaning
How does large-scale compare to similar and commonly confused words? Explore the most common comparisons:
Explanation
Anything described as large-scale is happening in a big way. A large-scale study of the benefits of dark chocolate would require many people and lots of time. And lots of chocolate. Yum. Scale has to do with size, so anything large-scale is huge. A large-scale ad campaign goes all around the country — and maybe around the world. A large-scale military campaign is one that might attack on multiple fronts. Cartoon villains who want to take over the world commit large-scale crimes. A large-scale commercial farm is gigantic, cranking out tons of food. The opposite of large-scale is small-scale.
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.
Data centers serve that purpose nicely: Like all large-scale building projects, they ruffle local feathers; and their purpose, unlike an airport or a shopping center, requires explanation and so lends itself to conspiratorial Facebook posting.
From The Wall Street Journal • May 20, 2026
Before delving deeper into the issues for the permanent residents, let’s examine the effect of the large-scale data centers being built and proposed in Nevada, and more generally coast to coast.
From Los Angeles Times • May 19, 2026
However, he also warned the United States was prepared to launch a "full, large-scale assault" if negotiations collapse, underscoring the fragility of the situation.
From Barron's • May 19, 2026
Karpathy has joined Nick Joseph’s pretraining team, responsible for the large-scale training runs that gives the Claude large language model its core knowledge and capabilities, according to Anthropic.
From MarketWatch • May 19, 2026
Since large-scale human cooperation is based on myths, the way people cooperate can be altered by changing the myths—by telling different stories.
From "Sapiens: A Brief History of Humankind" by Yuval Noah Harari
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.
