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.
Dylan Patel, CEO of AI-infrastructure consulting firm SemiAnalysis, recently predicted there would be large-scale protests against OpenAI and Anthropic within a few months.
From The Wall Street Journal • 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
In early February 2026, after the large-scale release of most of the FBI’s material on Epstein, Chopra released a statement on X denying involvement in “any criminal or exploitative conduct” during his friendship with Epstein.
From Salon • May 19, 2026
Where the article stresses a sense of stagnation and managed decline, several campaigns cast the moment as an opening for large-scale structural change.
From Los Angeles Times • May 17, 2026
At one end of the public area was a large-scale model of the entire trail, which, had I seen it before I started, might well have dissuaded me from attempting such an ambitious undertaking.
From "A Walk in the Woods" by Bill Bryson
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.
