big-screen

1 of 2

adjective

ˈbig-ˌskrēn 

1

: relating to movies or to the movie industry

She worked on the novel's big-screen adaptation.

Big-screen villains that resemble America's real-world enemies are as old as the movies themselves.

—Vanity Fair

2

: having a large screen

a big-screen television

And in my experience testing big-screen phones …, it really is far more difficult to do anything on them one-handed, including typing.

—John Gruber

big screen

2 of 2

noun

: the motion-picture medium often as contrasted to television

a story adapted for the big screen

Synonyms

Noun

• cinema
• film
• filmdom
• filmland
• filmmaking
• movie
• moviemaking
• pictures
• screen
• silver screen

Examples of big-screen in a Sentence

Noun

many actors now take roles for both television and the big screen

Recent Examples on the Web

Adjective

Following a summer of successful big-screen horror thrillers including Tarot, MaXXXine, Longlegs, Strange Darling and Alien: Romulus, Speak No Evil arrives in Thursday previews and theaters nationwide on Friday to put some chill into the fall moviegoing air. —Tim Lammers, Forbes, 12 Sep. 2024

Born on December 28, 1960, in Los Angeles, McQueen’s other big-screen credits include Fever Pitch (1985), New York Cop (1993), Jimmy Hollywood (1994), Papertrail (1998), Surface to Air (1998) and Fall: The Price of Silence (2001), serving as producer on the last three. —Erik Pedersen, Deadline, 12 Sep. 2024

Noun

After directing Pitch Perfect 2, Banks went on to tackle a big screen reboot of Charlie’s Angels in 2019 and the hit 2023 horror-comedy Cocaine Bear. —Eric Andersson, Peoplemag, 16 Sep. 2024

But the movie continues a humdrum year for horror, which is usually one of the most reliable big screen genres. —Rebecca Rubin, Variety, 15 Sep. 2024

Word History

First Known Use

Adjective

1914, in the meaning defined at sense 1

Noun

1914, in the meaning defined above

Kids Definition

big screen

noun

: the motion-picture medium as contrasted to television