# writ large
## English
### Etymology

From writ (“(archaic) written”) + large, from the poem “On the New Forces of Conscience under the Long Parliament” in Poems, &c. upon Several Occasions (1673) by the English poet John Milton (1608–1674): “New Presbyter is but Old Priest writ large”; Milton was using the phrase in the sense “written more completely”.

### Pronunciation

* (Received Pronunciation) IPA: /ɹɪt ˈlɑːd͡ʒ/
* Audio (Southern England):(file)
* (General American) IPA: /ɹɪt ˈlɑɹd͡ʒ/
* Rhymes: -ɑː(ɹ)dʒ

### Adjective

writ large (comparative writ larger, superlative writ largest) (figuratively)
* On a large scale; magnified.
    Antonym: writ small
** 1866, George Eliot [pseudonym; Mary Ann Evans], chapter VIII, in Felix Holt, the Radical […], volume I, Edinburgh, London: William Blackwood and Sons, →OCLC, pages 202–203:Since then his character had been ripened by a various experience, and also by much knowledge which he had set himself deliberately to gain. But the man was no more than the boy writ large, with an extensive commentary.
** 1908, H[erbert] G[eorge] Wells, “The Hardingham Hotel, and How We Became Big People”, in Tono-Bungay […], Toronto, Ont.: The Macmillan Company of Canada, Ltd., →OCLC, 3rd book (The Great Days of Tono-Bungay), section III, page 258:Yet it seems to me indeed at times that all this present commercial civilisation is no more than my poor uncle's career writ large, a swelling, thinning bubble of assurances; that its arithmetic is just as unsound, its dividends as ill-advised, its ultimate aim as vague and forgotten; […]
** 1995 January 23, Stephen R[ichards] Covey, quotee, “One Man’s Ted Sorensen is Another’s Marianne Williamson”, in Time‎, volume 145, number 3, New York, N.Y.: Time Inc., →ISSN, →OCLC, archived from the original on 10 February 2022:Public behavior is merely private character writ large.
** 2024, Jeremy B. Rudd, A Practical Guide to Macroeconomics, p. 13
    And, of course, none of this solves the basic problem that aggregate variables will not typically behave as individual-level variables writ large.
* Readily discerned, unmistakably indicated; clear, obvious.
** 1903 October, Jack London, “The Descent”, in The People of the Abyss, New York, N.Y.: The Macmillan Company; London: Macmillan & Co., Ltd., →OCLC, page 2:"You don't want to live down there!" everybody said, with disapprobation writ large upon their faces. "Why, it is said there are places where a man's life isn't worth tu'pence."
** 1904–1906, Joseph Conrad, “The Faithful River”, in The Mirror of the Sea, 1st American edition, New York, N.Y., London: Harper & Brothers, published October 1906, →OCLC, page 181:Meantime the old salt ("ex-coasting skipper" was writ large all over his person) had hobbled up alongside in his bumpy, shiny boots.
** 2002 October 3, Andrea Sachs, “Galley Girl: The Working Mother Edition”, in Time‎, New York, N.Y.: Time Warner Publishing, →ISSN, →OCLC, archived from the original on 24 August 2013:Bestsellerdom is writ large for this novel, sure to be greeted with rave reviews.
* in general
** 2009, Thomas Pepinsky, Economic Crises and the Breakdown of Authoritarian Regimes, New York, N.Y.: Cambridge University Press, →ISBN, page 40:In the case of Malaysia, for instance, the regime depends not on "labour" writ large but specifically on the unorganised Malay masses.
** 2023 April 20, Casey Schwartz, “Jean Twenge is ready to make you defend your generation again”, in The Washington Post‎:Despite the disbelievers, technology writ large — from air conditioning to television to smartphones — is core to Twenge’s sense of what defines a generation, even down to when each one begins and ends.

#### Usage notes

The term is usually placed after the noun modified. For uses of “writ large” in a verb sense, see write.

#### Translations
### References

* ↑ John Milton (1673) “On the New Forces of Conscience under the Long Parliament”, in Poems, &c. upon Several Occasions, London: […] Tho[mas] Dring […], →OCLC, page 69: “And ſuccor our juſt Fears / VVhen they ſhall read this clearly in your charge / Nevv Presbyter is but Old Prieſt vvrit Large.”
* ↑ “writ (also written)” under “write, v.”, in OED Online ⁠, Oxford, Oxfordshire: Oxford University Press, December 2021; “writ large, phrase”, in Lexico, Dictionary.com; Oxford University Press, 2019–2022.