big government
noun
variants
or 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
Tom MorganthauEspecially coming from a Republican, the Hyde proposals smack uncharacteristically of Big Government, critics say.—John Cloud
John CloudExamples of big government in a Sentence
Recent Examples on the Web
Where big business or big labor team up with big government, freedom is sure to come under attack.
—Dominic Pino, National Review, 19 Mar. 2024
Roosevelt’s critics pointed out that big government, of the sort FDR championed, could never be financed solely by the rich; wealthy Americans didn’t have enough money to foot the bill.
—Joseph Thorndike, Forbes, 26 Feb. 2024
This is a choice between freedom and socialism, individual liberty and big government, fiscal responsibility and spiraling debt.
—Sara Dorn, Forbes, 28 Nov. 2023
The data from countries all over the world are clear: big government and national industrial policy lead to stagnation.
—James Rogan, Washington Examiner, 15 Jan. 2024
In the last decade, super-low rates and big government spending brought abundance.
—Shawn Tully, Fortune, 16 Nov. 2023
That suggests that socialism and big government in general will remain a line of attack against Democrats and their likely nominee, President Joe Biden — but that’s a position that will resonate much more with Republican primary voters than the public as a whole.
—Monica Potts, ABC News, 26 Sep. 2023
The national Emergency Alert System, which probably startled you when it was tested on Wednesday, is a perfect example of useless big government.
—Dominic Pino, National Review, 6 Oct. 2023
Birchers had a theory that fluoride was essentially poison and part of a Communist plot; that this was big government forcing people to put poison in their bodies.
—Indigo Olivier, The New Republic, 10 Apr. 2023
Dominic Pino, National Review, 19 Mar. 2024
Roosevelt’s critics pointed out that big government, of the sort FDR championed, could never be financed solely by the rich; wealthy Americans didn’t have enough money to foot the bill.
—Joseph Thorndike, Forbes, 26 Feb. 2024
This is a choice between freedom and socialism, individual liberty and big government, fiscal responsibility and spiraling debt.
—Sara Dorn, Forbes, 28 Nov. 2023
The data from countries all over the world are clear: big government and national industrial policy lead to stagnation.
—James Rogan, Washington Examiner, 15 Jan. 2024
In the last decade, super-low rates and big government spending brought abundance.
—Shawn Tully, Fortune, 16 Nov. 2023
That suggests that socialism and big government in general will remain a line of attack against Democrats and their likely nominee, President Joe Biden — but that’s a position that will resonate much more with Republican primary voters than the public as a whole.
—Monica Potts, ABC News, 26 Sep. 2023
The national Emergency Alert System, which probably startled you when it was tested on Wednesday, is a perfect example of useless big government.
—Dominic Pino, National Review, 6 Oct. 2023
Birchers had a theory that fluoride was essentially poison and part of a Communist plot; that this was big government forcing people to put poison in their bodies.
—Indigo Olivier, The New Republic, 10 Apr. 2023
These examples are programmatically compiled from various online sources to illustrate current usage of the word 'big government.' Any opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback about these examples.
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Cite this Entry
“Big government.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/big%20government. Accessed 26 Apr. 2024.
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