big
Language: English
Part of speech: adj
Pronunciation: enpr: bĭg
ipa: /bɪɡ/
rhymes: -ɪɡ
Forms: form: bigger
form: biggest
Etymology: Inherited from Northern Middle English big, bigge (“powerful, strong”), possibly from a dialect of Old Norse. Ultimately perhaps a derivative of Proto-Germanic *bugja- (“swollen up, thick”), from Proto-Indo-European *bʰew-, *bu- (“to swell”), in which case big would be related to bogey, bugbear, and bug.
Compare dialectal Norwegian bugge (“great man”), Low German Bögge, Boggelmann.
Senses: examples: text: Elephants are big animals, and they eat a lot.
text: The big houses, and there are a good many of them, lie for the most part in what may be called by courtesy the valleys. You catch a glimpse of them sometimes at a little distance from the [railway] line,[…], with their court of farm and church and clustered village, in dignified seclusion.
ref: 1909, Archibald Marshall [pseudonym; Arthur Hammond Marshall], chapter III, in The Squire’s Daughter, New York, N.Y.: Dodd, Mead and Company, published 1919, →OCLC:
text: Investors face a quandary. Cash offers a return of virtually zero in many developed countries; government-bond yields may have risen in recent weeks but they are still unattractive. Equities have suffered two big bear markets since 2000 and are wobbling again. It is hardly surprising that pension funds, insurers and endowments are searching for new sources of return. […] When a company’s share price rises faster than the rest of the market, this means that it has a bigger weight in a traditional index.
ref: 2013 July 6, “The rise of smart beta”, in The Economist, volume 408, number 8843, archived from the original on 12 Nov 2020, page 68:
text: Out of the 484 Utah water systems that reported data in 2024, only 66 fluoridated their water, an Associated Press analysis showed. The largest was the state’s biggest city, Salt Lake City.
ref: 2025 March 28, “Utah becomes the first state to ban fluoride in public drinking water”, in CNN, sourced from Associated Press:
synonyms: word: ample
word: huge
word: large
word: sizeable
word: stour
word: jumbo
word: massive
word: ample
word: big
word: bodacious
word: broad
word: commodious
word: considerable
word: expansive
word: good-sized
word: full
word: generous
word: giant
word: grand
word: great
word: hefty
word: hench
word: immense
word: jumbo
word: larger than life
word: largifical
word: leviathan
word: long
word: massive
word: mega-
word: overlarge
word: outsized
word: oversize
word: oversized
word: prodigious
word: roomy
word: rotund
word: sizeable
word: spacious
word: stonking
word: tall
word: vast
word: voluminous
word: wide
word: astronomic
word: behemothic
word: big fat
word: boxcar
word: Brobdingnagian
word: bulky
word: colossal
word: cyclopean
word: Daniel Lambertish
word: elephantine
word: elephantic
word: enormous
word: gargantuan
word: giantesque
word: gigantesque
word: gigantic
word: ginormous
word: great big
word: honkin'
word: huge
word: hulking
word: humongous
word: hunormous
word: immane
word: mahoosive
word: mammoth
word: mastodonic
word: monstrous
word: monumental
word: mountainous
word: pantagruelian
word: pyramidal
word: Pythonic
word: stupendous
word: super-
word: supersized
word: titanic
word: tremendous
word: whopping
word: yuge
antonyms: little
small
tiny
minuscule
miniature
minute
glosses: Of great size, large.
examples: text: Gosh, she is big!
synonyms: word: ample
word: huge
word: large
word: sizeable
word: stour
word: jumbo
word: massive
word: ample
word: big
word: bodacious
word: broad
word: commodious
word: considerable
word: expansive
word: good-sized
word: full
word: generous
word: giant
word: grand
word: great
word: hefty
word: hench
word: immense
word: jumbo
word: larger than life
word: largifical
word: leviathan
word: long
word: massive
word: mega-
word: overlarge
word: outsized
word: oversize
word: oversized
word: prodigious
word: roomy
word: rotund
word: sizeable
word: spacious
word: stonking
word: tall
word: vast
word: voluminous
word: wide
word: astronomic
word: behemothic
word: big fat
word: boxcar
word: Brobdingnagian
word: bulky
word: colossal
word: cyclopean
word: Daniel Lambertish
word: elephantine
word: elephantic
word: enormous
word: gargantuan
word: giantesque
word: gigantesque
word: gigantic
word: ginormous
word: great big
word: honkin'
word: huge
word: hulking
word: humongous
word: hunormous
word: immane
word: mahoosive
word: mammoth
word: mastodonic
word: monstrous
word: monumental
word: mountainous
word: pantagruelian
word: pyramidal
word: Pythonic
word: stupendous
word: super-
word: supersized
word: titanic
word: tremendous
word: whopping
word: yuge
word: chubby
word: plus-size
word: rotund
word: ample
word: beer-bellied
word: big
word: bulky
word: chubby
word: chunky
word: embonpoint
word: fat
word: flabby
word: fleshy
word: full-figured
word: fulsome
word: gorbellied
word: gorrel-bellied
word: heavyset
word: love-handled
word: meaty
word: overnourished
word: paunchy
word: pleasantly plump
word: plump
word: plus-size
word: portly
word: potbellied
word: podgy
word: pudgy
word: roly-poly
word: rotund
word: Rubenesque
word: sonsy
word: swagbellied
word: thick
word: tubby
word: well-covered
word: well-padded
word: well-rounded
word: well-upholstered
word: wide
antonyms: little
small
tiny
minuscule
miniature
minute
glosses: Of great size, large.
Fat.
examples: text: She was big with child.
text: The Dawn is over-caſt, the Morning low’rs,
And heavily in Clouds brings on the Day,
The great, th’ important Day; big with the Fate
Of Cato and of Rome.
ref: 1712 (date written), [Joseph] Addison, Cato, a Tragedy. […], London: […] J[acob] Tonson, […], published 1713, →OCLC, Act I, scene i, page 1:
synonyms: word: full
word: great
word: heavy
word: big
word: carrying
word: child-great
word: delicate
word: eating for two
word: enceinte
word: expectant
word: expecting
word: fertilized
word: full
word: gestating
word: gravid
word: great
word: have a bun in the oven
word: heavy
word: hormonal
word: in a family way
word: in the club
word: in the pudding club
word: knocked up
word: preg
word: pregs
word: preggers
word: preggie
word: preggo
word: pregnant
word: pupped
word: quick
word: up the duff
word: up the kyte
word: up the stick
word: up the stump
word: up the spout
word: with child
glosses: Large with young; pregnant; swelling; ready to give birth or produce.
glosses: Well-endowed; with a desired body part notably large.
Specifically, big-breasted.
synonyms: word: busty
word: macromastic
word: stacked
word: bathykolpian
word: big
word: big-breasted
word: breasty
word: boobilicious
word: bosomy
word: busty
word: buxom
word: chesty
word: curvy
word: full-bosomed
word: full-throated
word: macromastic
word: racktacular
word: racktastic
word: stacked
word: top-heavy
word: well-endowed
word: well-stacked
examples: text: I'm the shortest man on the team but in the gym shower everyone can see that I'm also the biggest.
glosses: Well-endowed; with a desired body part notably large.
Having a large penis.
examples: text: I've been lifting weights for a full year now, but I'm finally getting big.
glosses: Well-endowed; with a desired body part notably large.
Having large muscles, especially visible ones such as the chest and arm muscles.
examples: text: Kids should get help from big people if they want to use the kitchen.
text: We were just playing, and then some big kids came and chased us away.
text: She did it all on her own like a big girl.
text: By midnight, however, the last light had fled / For even big people have then gone to bed[.]
ref: 1931, Robert L. May, Rudolph, The Red-Nosed Reindeer, Montgomery Ward (publisher), draft
text: Uh oh ... that looks like one of those things the big people don't want us to touch, Marvin!
ref: 1998 April 12, Tom Armstrong, Marvin (comic):
synonyms: word: adult
word: fully grown
word: grown up
word: adult
word: big
word: developed
word: full-grown
word: grown
word: grown-ass
word: grown up
word: grownup
word: mature
antonyms: little
young
glosses: Adult; (of a child) older.
examples: text: I don't think so, if you're shouting at people across the playground at your big age.
ref: 2020, Candice Carty-Williams, Notting Hill Carnival:
synonyms: word: adult
word: fully grown
word: grown up
word: adult
word: big
word: developed
word: full-grown
word: grown
word: grown-ass
word: grown up
word: grownup
word: mature
antonyms: little
young
glosses: Adult; (of a child) older.
Old, mature. Used to imply that someone is too old for something, or acting immaturely.
raw_tags: of someone's age
examples: text: That's very big of you; thank you!
text: I tried to be the bigger person and just let it go, but I couldn't help myself.
text: So the bloke says, 'Fine, that's real big of you, much appreciated,' and off he goes with Big John back to Ferrari's.
ref: 2011, Joe Pieri, The Big Men, →ISBN:
info_templates: expansion: [with of ‘someone’]
glosses: Mature, conscientious, principled; generous.
examples: text: What's so big about that? I do it all the time.
text: "I was dragged up at the workhouse school till I was twelve. Then I ran away and sold papers in the streets, and anything else that I could pick up a few coppers by—except steal. I never did that. I always made up my mind I'd be a big man some day, and—I'm glad I didn't steal."
ref: 1909, Archibald Marshall [pseudonym; Arthur Hammond Marshall], chapter II, in The Squire’s Daughter, New York, N.Y.: Dodd, Mead and Company, published 1919, →OCLC:
text: The great game of golf offered an antidote to the inevitable dead space — blocks of difficult-to-use hours, pre- and postflight — that are one of business travel’s biggest drags.
ref: 2007 September 4, John Berg, “Time on the Greens Beats Time at the Gate”, in The New York Times:
text: It proved a big miss as Hoilett produced a sublime finish into the top corner of the net from 20 yards after evading a couple of challenges in first-half stoppage time.
ref: 2011 October 29, Neil Johnston, “Norwich 3-3 Blackburn”, in BBC Sport:
text: "It's not about having a catchy strap line, it's about 'why do I come to work every day?' Am I just here to go 'your train is over there'? Or am I here to really influence that person's journey and therefore the perception of the organisation we're working for? There is a bigger picture to this - and that ultimately is what will keep people using our service."
ref: 2023 January 25, Cem Davis tells Nick Brodrick, “A warm 'Waterloo family' welcome”, in RAIL, number 975, page 38:
synonyms: word: essential
word: paramount
word: weighty
word: big
word: central
word: consequential
word: critical
word: crucial
word: epochful
word: essential
word: extraordinary
word: fateful
word: fatefraught
word: fatesome
word: heavy
word: pivotal
word: high on the totem pole
word: historic
word: innegligible
word: key
word: life-or-death
word: meaningful
word: necessary
word: noted
word: noticeable
word: observable
word: outstanding
word: paramount
word: pertinent
word: relevant
word: remarkable
word: salient
word: significant
word: unignorable
word: valuable
word: vital
word: weighty
glosses: Important or significant.
examples: text: That style is very big right now in Europe, especially among teenagers.
text: Big in Japan, alright, pay then I'll sleep by your side / Things are easy when you're big in Japan
ref: 1984, “Big in Japan”, in Forever Young, performed by Alphaville:
synonyms: all the rage
in demand
well liked
glosses: Popular.
glosses: Populous.
raw_tags: of a city
examples: text: You are a big liar.  Why are you in such a big hurry?
text: The little suggestions of look and tone; the easy fibs and bigger lies; the tricks of persuasion, the onleading wiles — all these I could not master.
ref: 1918, Michael Williams, The Book of the High Romance: A Spiritual Autobiography, page 41:
text: Why is it whenever I'm in a big hurry he's always in a big slow?
ref: 2007 August 8, Tom Armstrong, Marvin (comic):
glosses: Used as an intensifier, especially of negative-valence nouns
examples: text: big money
text: Big Tech, Big Steel
translation: large or influential tech or steel companies
english: large or influential tech or steel companies
text: Big Science
translation: science performed by large teams, and of large scope, with government or corporate funding
english: science performed by large teams, and of large scope, with government or corporate funding
text: There were concerns about the ethics of big pharma.
text: Why are you so enthusiastic about putting cantaloupe in your smoothie? Did Big Melon buy you off? [humorous]
text: After the Airblade’s launch, a battle began to boil, pitting the dryer industry against the world’s most powerful hand-drying lobby: Big Towel.
ref: 2019 April 25, Samanth Subramanian, “Hand dryers v paper towels: the surprisingly dirty fight for the right to dry your hands”, in The Guardian:
text: “The C.E.O.s don’t want to be testifying. Even having this collective hearing creates a sense of quasi-guilt just because of who else has gotten called in like this — Big Pharma, Big Tobacco, Big Banks,” said Paul Gallant, a tech policy analyst at the investment firm Cowen. “That’s not a crowd they want to be associated with.”
ref: 2020 July 28, “Amazon, Apple, Facebook and Google Prepare for Their ‘Big Tobacco Moment’”, in New York Times:
qualifier: or institution(s) therein
glosses: Operating on a large scale, especially if therefore having undue or sinister influence.
raw_tags: of an industry or other field
examples: text: Neville is big on standing by his principles and he deserves plaudits for acknowledging he got his starting system wrong, reverting to 4-2-3-1 and introducing Kirby in the No 10 role.
ref: 2019 July 2, Louise Taylor, “Alex Morgan heads USA past England into Women’s World Cup final”, in The Guardian:
text: I'm not big on the idea, but if you want to go ahead with it, I won't stop you.
info_templates: extra_data: words: on
‘someone/something’
expansion: [with on ‘someone/something’]
synonyms: word: fanatical
word: mad
word: worked up
word: animated
word: ardent
word: avid
word: big [⇒ thesaurus] [on]
word: bubbly
word: eager
word: earnest
word: ebullient
word: energetic
word: enthusiastic
word: excited
word: exhilarated
word: fanatic
word: fanatical
word: fervent
word: fervid
word: feverish
word: gassed
word: geeked
word: gung ho
word: hearty
word: high-spirited
word: impassioned
word: juiced
word: keen
word: lit up
word: lively
word: mad
word: motivated
word: passionate
word: raring
word: rip-roaring
word: souped-up
word: stimulated
word: thrilled
word: torrid
word: vehement
word: vibrant
word: vivacious
word: wild
word: worked up
word: wrought-up
word: zealous
word: zestful
glosses: Enthusiastic (about).
Hyponyms: enormous
gigantic
huge
Derived terms: word: archipelago big-eyed treefrog
word: as big as life
word: bastard big-footed mouse
word: be big on
word: beep
word: be the bigger man
word: big agile
word: big air
word: big and bad
word: big and tall
word: big and ugly enough
word: Big Apple
word: big as a barn
word: big as a house
word: big as bull-beef
word: big ask
word: big-ass
word: bigass
word: big ass
word: Big Ass Lake
word: big as the Beatles
word: bigature
word: big baby
word: big back
word: big bad
word: big band
word: big bang
word: Big Bang
word: big bang testing
word: big bat
word: big bath
word: Big Bear City
word: Big Bear Lake
word: Big Bear Valley
word: big beast
word: big beat
word: Big Ben
word: Big Bertha
word: big bikkies
word: big blind
word: big block
word: big blue blanket
word: big bluestem
word: Big Board
word: big boned
word: big-boned
word: big boob
word: big-boob
word: big-box
word: big box
word: big-box store
word: big boy
word: big boys
word: big boy pants
word: big-boy pants
word: big brain
word: big-brained
word: big break
word: big-breasted
word: Big Brother
word: big brother
word: big brown bat
word: big bucks
word: big business
word: big C
word: big casino
word: big cassino
word: big cat
word: big-character poster
word: big cheese
word: big chop
word: Big Creek
word: Big Crunch
word: big crunch
word: big crypto
word: Big D
word: big D
word: big daddy
word: big dance
word: big data
word: big day
word: big deal
word: big deuce
word: big Dick
word: big dick energy
word: big-dick energy
word: big Dick from Boston
word: big dipper
word: Big Dipper
word: big divorce energy
word: big dog
word: big dog of the tanyard
word: big drink
word: big drum
word: big dyke energy
word: Big E
word: big-eared
word: Big Easy
word: big eater
word: big eight
word: big enchilada
word: big end
word: big-endian
word: big end of town
word: big enough and ugly enough
word: bigeye
word: big eye
word: big-eyed tree frog
word: big fat
word: big-fat
word: big phat
word: big fat zero
word: big figure
word: bigfin
word: big final
word: big finger
word: big fish
word: big fish eat little fish
word: big fish in a little pond
word: big fish in a small pond
word: big-fish-little-pond effect
word: big five
word: big fly
word: Bigfoot
word: big-footed mouse
word: Big Four
word: big friend
word: Big Game
word: big game
word: bigger fish in the sea
word: bigger fish to fry
word: bigger picture
word: bigger than Ben Hur
word: bigger than life
word: bigger-than-life
word: bigger than shit
word: biggie
word: no biggie
word: biggify
word: big girl
word: big-girl pants
word: big girl pants
word: big girl's blouse
word: biggish
word: biggity
word: big government
word: big gun
word: big guy
word: biggy
word: big hair
word: big hairy armadillo
word: big hairy deal
word: big hand
word: big H
word: Big H
word: bighead
word: big head
word: big-head
word: big-headed
word: big-headedness
word: big-headed rice rat
word: big-headed turtle
word: big heart
word: big-hearted
word: big-heartedly
word: big-heartedness
word: big history
word: big hitter
word: big honkin'
word: bighorn
word: Big Horn County
word: big house
word: bighouse
word: big idea
word: big if
word: big if true
word: bigify
word: big iron
word: Big Island
word: big jobs
word: big kahuna
word: big kid
word: big labor
word: big labour
word: Big Lake
word: Big Lakes County
word: BigLaw
word: bigleaf
word: big-leaf maple
word: big-league
word: big letter
word: big lick
word: big lie
word: big light
word: big-lipped alligator moment
word: big lug
word: Big Mac
word: big mad
word: big mama
word: big man
word: big man on campus
word: big man ting
word: Big Mike
word: big mind
word: big mitt man
word: big mo
word: big momma
word: big money
word: big-money
word: big mood
word: big mouth
word: bigmouth
word: big-mouthed
word: bigmouthed
word: Big Muddy
word: big name
word: big-name
word: bigness
word: bignose
word: big-note
word: big-noter
word: big O
word: big oil
word: big ol'
word: big old
word: big ole
word: big ones
word: big one
word: the big one
word: big O notation
word: bigorexia
word: big pharma
word: big picture
word: big pocket
word: big pregnant
word: Big Q
word: Big Quill
word: Big Rapids
word: big real mode
word: big red button
word: big red switch
word: big rig
word: big ring
word: Big Rip
word: Big River
word: big room
word: big room house
word: bigroot
word: big sagebrush
word: bigscale
word: big school
word: big science
word: big screen
word: big shagbank
word: Big Shanty
word: big shop
word: big shot
word: big-shot
word: bigshot
word: big shoulder
word: big-shouldered
word: big show
word: Big Sioux
word: big sister
word: big-sisterly
word: Big Six
word: big six
word: the big six
word: big-sky thinking
word: big sleep
word: big slick
word: Big Smoke
word: big smoke
word: big society
word: bigsome
word: big spender
word: big spoon
word: big spring
alt: toponym
word: Big Spring
word: big stick
word: Big Stone County
word: Big Sur
word: big switch
word: bigtail
word: big talk
word: big tamale
word: big tech
word: big tent
word: big-tent
word: big tentism
word: big-tentism
word: big things come in small packages
word: Big Three
word: big three
word: big ticket
word: big-ticket
word: big-ticket item
word: Big Timber
word: big time
word: big-time
word: bigtime
word: big-timer
word: big tobacco
word: big toe
word: big toenail
word: bigtooth
word: big top
word: big-top
word: big tree
word: big two
word: Big Uglies
word: big ugly dish
word: big up
word: big wheel
word: big white chief
word: big white telephone
word: big whoop
word: big wig
word: big-wig
word: bigwig
word: big-wigged
word: big woop
word: big word
word: big wow
word: big year
word: big yikes
word: bite the big one
word: buy the big one
word: catch big air
word: deepwater big-eyed worm eel
word: embiggen
word: go big or go home
word: grandbig
word: great big
word: greater big-footed mouse
word: green big-eyed tree frog
word: have eyes bigger than one's belly
word: have eyes bigger than one's stomach
word: heart as big as Phar Lap
word: hit it big
word: hit the big time
word: in a big way
word: last big thing
word: last of the big spenders
word: like a big dog
word: little pitchers have big ears
word: make a big thing out of
word: make it big
word: Mr. Big
word: Mr Big
word: Mister Big
word: next big thing
word: no big deal
word: no big whoop
word: no big woop
word: one big happy family
word: open one's big mouth
word: overbig
word: Petter's big-footed mouse
word: play big
word: speak softly and carry a big stick
word: suck a big one
word: talk a big game
word: talk big
word: talk softly and carry a big stick
word: talk to God on the big white telephone
word: talk to Ralph on the big white telephone
word: ten for the big guy
word: the bigs
word: there's always a bigger fish
word: think big
word: too big for one's boots
word: too big for one's britches
word: too big for one's breeches
word: too big to fail
word: unbig
word: walk softly and carry a big stick
word: what's the big idea
word: win big