lion's share

American  

noun

1. the largest part or share, especially a disproportionate portion.

   The eldest son received the lion's share of the estate.

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lion's share Cultural  

1. A disproportionately large segment of the whole: “Though we always divided our winnings, somehow Barton always seemed to end up with the lion's share.”

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lion's share Idioms  

1. The greater part or most of something, as in Whenever they won a doubles match, Ethel claimed the lion's share of the credit, or As usual, Uncle Bob took the lion's share of the cake. This expression alludes to Aesop's fable about a lion, who got all of a kill because its fellow hunters, an ass, fox, and wolf, were afraid to claim their share. [Late 1700s]

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Etymology

Origin of lion's share

First recorded in 1780–90; probably after Aesop's fable in which the lion claimed all the spoils of a hunt

Example Sentences

See Examples For:

lion's share

Like Intel, the lion’s share of the proceeds will be used to fund capital expenditure related to the artificial-intelligence build-out.

From MarketWatch ● Aug. 11, 2026

Rortvedt, who Roberts said could get the “taking a lion’s share for the foreseeable future,” caught two-time Cy Young winner Tarik Skubal in his Dodgers debut Tuesday.

From Los Angeles Times ● Aug. 5, 2026

Cartier drives the lion’s share of sales at the jewelry maisons unit.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Jul. 22, 2026

Moretti also points out that the lion's share of the wealth from OpenAI and Anthropic's coming stock market flotations will go to investors rather than employees, and they are globally located.

From BBC ● Jul. 8, 2026

She also may have felt that William was entitled to the lion’s share of the credit.

From "The Woman All Spies Fear" by Amy Butler Greenfield