as in big(s)
the highest level of a field of endeavor
Broadway is the big leagues, and for big bucks theatergoers expect professionalism
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Recent Examples of big leagues
With prices so high, media companies are narrowing their packages, leaving some big leagues like the NBA spread across more networks and streamers.
—
Brian Steinberg, Variety, 17 Oct. 2025
For the first time in a summer transfer window, spending on new signings by England’s top 20 clubs outstripped that of those in the other four big leagues — Serie A, La Liga, the Bundesliga and Ligue 1 — combined.
—James McNicholas, New York Times, 8 Sep. 2025
That 2022 validation — Nvidia invested about $900 million into the company, now worth more than $2 billion — launched CoreWeave into the AI big leagues with access to the chipmaker’s most advanced products to build the powerful data centers used to serve and train many of OpenAI’s models.
—Reed Albergotti, semafor.com, 27 Aug. 2025
Brian Steinberg, Variety, 17 Oct. 2025
For the first time in a summer transfer window, spending on new signings by England’s top 20 clubs outstripped that of those in the other four big leagues — Serie A, La Liga, the Bundesliga and Ligue 1 — combined.
—James McNicholas, New York Times, 8 Sep. 2025
That 2022 validation — Nvidia invested about $900 million into the company, now worth more than $2 billion — launched CoreWeave into the AI big leagues with access to the chipmaker’s most advanced products to build the powerful data centers used to serve and train many of OpenAI’s models.
—Reed Albergotti, semafor.com, 27 Aug. 2025
Recent Examples of Synonyms for big leagues
major league
Noun
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His 23 homers against left-handed pitching set a major league record for a lefty batter.—
CBS News,
CBS News,
10 Dec. 2025
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Thoroughbred horse racing takes place in Del Mar from July through September each year, and baseball fans arrive from April through September for major league games at Petco Park.—
Patricia Doherty,
Travel + Leisure,
7 Dec. 2025
Cite this Entry
“Big leagues.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/big%20leagues. Accessed 17 Jun. 2026.
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