big gun

noun

: one having preeminent status or power in a field

Synonyms of big gun

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

Examples of big gun in a Sentence

for a high-profile case like this, the law firm uses only its big guns

Recent Examples on the Web

The Minnesota Wild’s big guns showed up in a big way Saturday night, and the Avs looked wobbly for the first time in this tournament in a 5-1 loss in Game 3 at Grand Casino Arena. —Corey Masisak, Denver Post, 10 May 2026

Against Nottingham Forest in the FA Cup, Wrexham twice raced into a two-goal lead only for the half-time of introduction of the Premier League’s ‘big guns’ to underline how far the Welsh club still has to go if their owners’ top flight ambitions are to be realised. —Richard Sutcliffe, New York Times, 6 May 2026

Stars don’t shine The Bruins’ big guns finished with some ugly numbers for the series. —Steve Conroy, Boston Herald, 2 May 2026

Related Stories Chile, as the guest country of honor, will be sending its big guns with Pablo Larrain, Sebastián Lelio and Maite Alberdi leading a contingent. —Anna Marie De La Fuente, Variety, 17 Apr. 2026

Word History

First Known Use

1830, in the meaning defined above

Rhymes for big gun

• begun
• grandson
• gudrun
• handgun
• homespun
• outdone
• outrun
• pashtun
• redone
• rerun
• shotgun
• someone