big government

noun

variants: or Big Government

Definition of big government

chiefly US

: government that is regarded as infringing upon the rights of individual citizens because of its extensive bureaucracy and intrusive regulations and policies Big government, in the minds of many Americans, had become the problem, not the solution.— Tom Morganthau Especially coming from a Republican, the Hyde proposals smack uncharacteristically of Big Government, critics say.— John Cloud

Examples of big government in a Sentence

Recent Examples on the Web

The larger lesson is that sooner or later the middle class always gets the bill for bigger government. — The Editorial Board, WSJ, "A Gas Tax Economics Lesson," 10 Sep. 2018 Paul Sancya/AP Florida and Arizona are inextricably linked in Americans’ minds as the lands of baseball spring training and old retirees who hate welfare but depend for their standard of living on big government programs. — Matthew Yglesias, Vox, "4 winners and one loser from primary elections in Florida, Arizona, and Oklahoma," 29 Aug. 2018 That assumes tunnel construction wouldn’t balloon into significant cost overruns like virtually every other big government project. — George Skelton, latimes.com, "What do Southern Californians really get out of Gov. Jerry Brown's twin tunnels project?," 12 July 2018 President Trump seems to think that drugs are too expensive because of unfettered markets, but the EpiPen episode is a reminder: The real culprit is often not too much freedom but big business exploiting big government to keep prices high. — The Editorial Board, WSJ, "A Shot of Competition for EpiPen," 19 Aug. 2018 The most ambitious private spaceflight industry dreams start here at 39A, the site of the biggest government successes of the Space Age. — Joe Pappalardo, Popular Mechanics, "Cape Canaveral's Legendary Launchpad Is Ready for Astronauts Once More," 16 Aug. 2018 Using data to target voters who distrust big government and an army of canvassers, Americans for Prosperity has been inventive in turning the public against mass transit. — Jeet Heer, The New Republic, "The Koch brothers know how to play the long game to change America.," 19 June 2018 Many of today’s boldest thinkers across the ideological spectrum think the economy’s most serious malady isn’t inequality, populism or big government: it’s monopoly. — Greg Ip, WSJ, "Demolishing Monopoly From Below: How Two Radicals Would Remake Markets," 13 June 2018 The lessons of Bill Clinton’s victory in 1992 and the backlash against Barack Obama’s attempts to fix health care seemed to be that the country is as hostile to big government as ever. — The Economist, "Fork in the roadShould the party move to the left or to the centre?," 12 July 2018

These example sentences are selected automatically from various online news sources to reflect current usage of the word 'big government.' Views expressed in the examples do not represent the opinion of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback.