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Showing results for big business. Search instead for public business.
Synonyms

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.

big business British  

noun

  1. large commercial organizations collectively, esp when considered as exploitative or socially harmful

"Collins English Dictionary — Complete & Unabridged" 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012
big business Cultural  

  1. Large corporations, as opposed to small individually or family-owned businesses.

Etymology

Origin of big business

An Americanism dating back to 1900–05

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.

"It's these multifaceted international relationships with big business that we really need to be strengthening far more than we have," he adds.

From BBC • Apr. 18, 2026

From its Bahrain base overlooking a manicured cove in Manama, Vitol over decades built a big business supplying Persian Gulf oil to Asia.

From The Wall Street Journal • Apr. 12, 2026

Television rights to broadcast or stream NFL games is a big business.

From Barron's • Apr. 9, 2026

Wall Street isn’t giving Arm Holdings enough credit for a big business transformation, according to an analyst.

From MarketWatch • Mar. 20, 2026

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

From "Words Like Loaded Pistols" by Sam Leith

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.