big cheese

noun

: boss, big gun

Synonyms of big cheese

• heavyweight
• heavy
• big
• big gun
• big boy
• big wheel
• big leaguer
• major leaguer
• lion
• heavy hitter

Examples of big cheese in a Sentence

thinks he's a big cheese just because he's got a business card

Recent Examples on the Web

And the joy in the swanky dining room rockets up whenever somebody orders the Cacio e Pepe, which is mixed in a big cheese wheel, or the New York Steak, which a server sets ablaze before slicing with a flaming knife. — John Metcalfe, Mercury News, 3 Sep. 2026

But a big cheese board affords the chance for people to try something new. — Betty Hallock, Los Angeles Times, 30 Dec. 2024

So for decades only accredited scholars, the occasional journalist and big cheeses got to see inside. — Jason Horowitz, New York Times, 26 Oct. 2023

Following a voting process, this international cut of designers aged under 40 will be whittled down to a final few before the winners are selected by a panel of the conglomerate’s key designers and c-suite big cheeses some time in the summer. — Luke Leitch, Vogue, 2 Mar. 2023

Word History

First Known Use

1885, in the meaning defined above

Rhymes for big cheese

• agrees
• appease
• bougies
• burmese
• chemise
• chickpeas
• chinese
• cowpeas
• curies
• decrees
• degrees
• disease