big

noun

1

: an individual or organization of outstanding importance or power

especially : major league

—usually used in plural

playing in the bigs

2

basketball, informal : a big player : a center or forward whose large size and strength are used to control play near the basket

But, the problem is that you MUST have guards. You can't play five bigs.

—Martin Manley

Synonyms of big

• heavy
• heavyweight

Examples of big in a Sentence

with that new promotion he's now one of the bigs in the company

the big story that year was the election of the president

Recent Examples on the Web

In that performance, the big dominated on both sides of the floor from the beginning. —Fiifi Frimpong, New York Daily News, 6 June 2026

Spurs bigs Tim Duncan and David Robinson were dominant in Ewing’s absence. —Esfandiar Baraheni, New York Times, 3 June 2026

There are a few free agent bigs who are probably out of Denver’s price range (Mitchell Robinson, Robert Williams III, Kristaps Porzingis). —Bennett Durando, Denver Post, 29 May 2026

The Sky managed to break the 100-point mark despite an off night from their bigs, who combined for only 23 points. —Julia Poe, Chicago Tribune, 28 May 2026

Word History

Etymology

First Known Use

1833, in the meaning defined at sense 1

Phrases Containing big

• a big fish in a little pond
• a big fish in a small pond
• a big heart
• a big/swelled head
• (as) big as life
• be in for a (big/real) surprise
• big air
• big bad
• big band
• big bang
• big bang theory
• big beat
• big-block
• big bluestem
• big-boned
• big-box
• big boy
• big brother
• big brown bat
• big buck
• big-budget
• big business
• big C
• big cat
• big cheese
• big-city
• big commitment
• big crunch
• big daddy
• big data
• big deal
• big fat
• big game
• big government
• big gun
• big hair
• big heart
• big house
• big idea
• big league
• big lie
• big man on campus
• big money
• big name
• big noise
• big on
• big one
• big picture
• big rig
• big science
• big screen
• big shot
• big sister
• big spender
• big stick
• big-ticket
• big time
• big toe
• big top
• big tree
• big unknown
• big wheel
• big whoop
• big with child
• big word
• big words
• draw a big/large crowd
• go over big
• great big
• half as big/much/good as
• have a big heart
• have a big mouth
• hit it big
• hit the big five-oh
• hit the big four-oh
• hitting the big time
• in a big way
• made a big difference
• make a big deal (out) of (something)
• make a big difference
• make a big thing about/out of (something)
• make (something) into a big deal
• no big whoop
• that's a big if
• the big bang
• the big boys
• the big cheese
• the big city
• the big day
• the big enchilada
• the big guns
• the big house
• the big leagues
• the big one
• the big question
• the big screen
• the big time
• the next big thing
• think big
• to have a big mouth
• too big for one's boots
• too big for one's britches
• under the big top
• what's the big deal?
• what's the big idea

Rhymes for big

• brig
• brigg
• dig
• fig
• gig
• jig
• mig
• pig
• prig
• rig
• sprig
• swig

Kids Definition

big

1 of 2 adjective

ˈbig 

bigger; biggest

1

: of great force

a big storm

2

a

: large in size, bulk, or extent

a big house

big government

a big city

b

: large in number or amount

a big fleet

big money

c

: capital entry 1 sense 2

big letters

3

: of great importance

my big chance

a big star in movies

4

informal : being older

my big sister

bigness noun

big

2 of 2 adverb

1

: in a big way

win big

2

: so as to boast

talk big