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Definitions

big

[big] / bɪg /






Usage

What are other ways to say big? In reference to the size and extent of concrete objects, big is the most general and most colloquial word, large is somewhat more formal, and great is highly formal and even poetic, suggesting also that the object is notable or imposing: a big tree; a large tree; a great oak; a big field; a large field; great plains. When the reference is to degree or a quality, great is the usual word: great beauty; great mistake; great surprise; although big sometimes alternates with it in colloquial style: a big mistake; a big surprise; large is usually not used in reference to degree, but may be used in a quantitative reference: a large number (great number).

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.

See Examples For:

Cheap credit is a big part of the reason.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Oct. 12, 2026

Despite her nerves, she stands in the spotlight and sings Miss Danielle’s big number.

From Salon ● Oct. 12, 2026

Shopify rises after Deutsche Banks says the company is poised to win big from agentic commerce in the long run.

From Barron's ● Oct. 12, 2026

"This is a very big animal that's got the power to bite and break through bones."

From BBC ● Oct. 12, 2026

“And even after I did get in, I would have nightmares where it was all a big mistake, and I didn’t really make it in.”

From "Split the Sky" by Marie Arnold

The bank’s price target on Sandfire Resources rises 9% to A$25.50/share, putting it at a bigger premium to Friday’s close of A$22.01.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Oct. 12, 2026

Devices from established manufacturers are generally safer because bigger companies with reputations to protect give priority to security and roll out updates when problems arise.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Oct. 11, 2026

Prof Bob Phillips, a paediatric oncologist, says it's key for parents to look out for clusters of symptoms that may be persisting, getting worse or bigger.

From BBC ● Oct. 11, 2026

If Henderson can outshine the bigger names, the Brewers could be OK.

From Los Angeles Times ● Oct. 10, 2026

I thought Grandpa’s store was big, but compared to the mercantile, it wasn’t any bigger than a chicken coop.

From "Summer of the Monkeys" by Wilson Rawls

Given all of those factors, “the world’s biggest energy disruption looks like it will get worse before it gets better,” said McNally.

From MarketWatch ● Oct. 12, 2026

Its original response ended with a pointed reference to one of the singer’s biggest hits.

From Salon ● Oct. 12, 2026

We have already found that the world's biggest accountancy firm, Deloitte, helped in falsifying documents to hide his wealth and evade tax.

From BBC ● Oct. 12, 2026

Earlier this year, it struck its biggest deal yet, a $1.8 billion takeover of chip maker SkyWater Technology.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Oct. 12, 2026

Her biggest struggle is figuring out how to transform her suitcase full of bathing suits and sundresses into trendy work clothes.

From "South of Somewhere" by Kalena Miller

I've bigged myself up about doing an Ironman, but now I'm starting to regret that!

From BBC ● Sep. 8, 2025

I've suddenly got the fear we've bigged this up too much.

From BBC ● Mar. 12, 2024

“This agreement has been bigged up as something that will be a solution to the world’s food shortage, and it is just not,” said Tracey Allen, an agricultural commodities strategist at JPMorgan Chase.

From New York Times ● Aug. 1, 2022

Across the world in Los Angeles, the Compton Cricket Club is bigged in by Cloth's Bullets – a song, like the CCC itself, dedicated to fighting homelessness and gang culture with civility and dignity.

From The Guardian ● Jul. 25, 2013

And they hae banished him, Brown Adam, The flower o' a' his kin; And he's bigged a hour in gude green-wood Atween his ladye and him.

From Minstrelsy of the Scottish Border, Volume 2 Consisting of Historical and Romantic Ballads, Collected in The Southern Counties of Scotland; with a Few of Modern Date, Founded Upon Local Tradition by Sir Walter Scott

"My first response was embarrassment because I'm not one for bigging myself up," he says.

From BBC ● Nov. 21, 2025

The talk of their golden generation is about as misplaced as the chat about them bigging themselves up.

From BBC ● Mar. 7, 2025

Another massive performance and others aside from Sinfield might be bigging him up.

From Washington Times ● Oct. 19, 2023

GP I really don’t want it to sound like I’m bigging myself up.

From New York Times ● Dec. 9, 2021

Mr. Oldbuck's "ecstatic description" of the Roman camp with its praetorium was spoilt by Edie Ochiltree's disastrous interruption "Praetorian here, praetorian there, I mind the bigging o't."

From The Romance of Names by Ernest Weekley




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