the big cheese

noun

informal

: a most powerful or important person

You'll have to ask the big cheese.

Who's the big cheese around here?

Examples of the big cheese in a Sentence

Recent Examples on the Web

She gets sucked in by two gangsters and involved in a holdup, then ends up becoming the girlfriend of the big cheese in town, modeled off Lucky Luciano, played with oily presence by Ricardo Cortez. — Chris Willman, Variety, 5 May 2026

Even before the pandemic altered the tenor of the workplace, being the big cheese, taskmaster, and head honcho was passé. — John Hall, Forbes, 22 Dec. 2024

Irvine’s mayor was the big cheese, with total comp of $52,633 ($29,700 in total wages, plus $22,933 in health and retirement benefits). — Teri Sforza, Orange County Register, 11 May 2024

Rhymes for the big cheese

• abcs
• absentees
• addressees
• adoptees
• allottees
• amputees
• antifreeze
• appellees
• appointees
• arrestees
• artistes
• assamese