| / English Dictionary |
BIG
| Pronunciation (US): |  | (GB): | |
Irregular inflected forms: bigger , biggest
I. (adjective)
Sense 1
Meaning:
In an advanced stage of pregnancy
Example:
was great with child
Synonyms:
big; enceinte; expectant; gravid; great; heavy; large; with child
Classified under:
Similar:
pregnant (carrying developing offspring within the body or being about to produce new life)
Sense 2
Meaning:
Conspicuous in position or importance
Example:
a prominent citizen
Synonyms:
big; large; prominent
Classified under:
Similar:
conspicuous (obvious to the eye or mind)
Sense 3
Meaning:
Given or giving freely
Example:
her fond and openhanded grandfather
Synonyms:
big; bighearted; bounteous; bountiful; freehanded; giving; handsome; liberal; openhanded
Classified under:
Adjectives
Similar:
generous (willing to give and share unstintingly)
Sense 4
Meaning:
Generous and understanding and tolerant
Example:
magnanimous toward his enemies
Synonyms:
big; large; magnanimous
Classified under:
Adjectives
Similar:
generous (not petty in character and mind)
Sense 5
Meaning:
Marked by intense physical force
Example:
a big wind
Classified under:
Adjectives
Similar:
heavy (of great intensity or power or force)
Sense 6
Meaning:
Significant
Example:
graduation was a big day in his life
Classified under:
Adjectives
Similar:
important; of import (of great significance or value)
Domain usage:
colloquialism (a colloquial expression; characteristic of spoken or written communication that seeks to imitate informal speech)
Sense 7
Meaning:
Above average in size or number or quantity or magnitude or extent
Example:
large areas of the world
Synonyms:
big; large
Classified under:
Adjectives
Similar:
monstrous (abnormally large)
medium-large (of anything that is large but not the largest)
massive (imposing in scale or scope or degree or power)
massive; monolithic; monumental (imposing in size or bulk or solidity)
man-sized (very large; appropriate to the size of a man)
macro (very large in scale or scope or capability)
macroscopic; macroscopical (large enough to be visible with the naked eye)
full-size; life-size; life-sized; lifesize (being of the same size as an original)
large-scale (constructed or drawn to a big scale)
large-scale (unusually large in scope)
large-mouthed (having a relatively large mouth)
king-size; king-sized (extra large)
mountainous (like a mountain in size and impressiveness)
outsize; outsized; oversize; oversized (larger than normal for its kind)
overlarge; too large (excessively large)
plumping (very large; of exceptional size for its kind)
queen-size; queen-sized ((used especially of beds) not as large as king-size)
rangy (allowing ample room for ranging)
super (extremely large)
titanic (of great force or power)
volumed (formed or rising in rounded masses)
voluminous (large in volume or bulk)
whacking ((British informal) enormous)
wide-ranging (including much)
ample; sizable; sizeable (fairly large in size)
astronomic; astronomical; galactic (inconceivably large)
bear-sized (large as a bear)
bigger; larger (large or big relative to something else)
biggish; largish (somewhat large)
blown-up; enlarged (as of a photograph; made larger)
bouffant; puffy (being puffed out; used of hair style or clothing)
broad; spacious; wide (very large in expanse or scope)
bulky (of large size for its weight)
capacious (large in capacity)
colossal; prodigious; stupendous (so great in size or force or extent as to elicit awe)
deep (large in quantity or size)
banging; humongous; thumping; walloping; whopping ((used informally) very large)
hulking; hulky (of great size and bulk)
Brobdingnagian; huge; immense; vast (unusually great in size or amount or degree or especially extent or scope)
grand (large and impressive in physical size or extent)
great (relatively large in size or number or extent; larger than others of its kind)
gigantic; mammoth (so exceedingly large or extensive as to suggest a giant or mammoth)
extended; extensive (large in spatial extent or range or scope or quantity)
epic; heroic; larger-than-life (very imposing or impressive; surpassing the ordinary (especially in size or scale))
elephantine; gargantuan; giant; jumbo (of great mass; huge and bulky)
cosmic (inconceivably extended in space or time)
enormous; tremendous (extraordinarily large in size or extent or amount or power or degree)
double (large enough for two)
Attribute:
size (the physical magnitude of something (how big it is))
Antonym:
little (limited or below average in number or quantity or magnitude or extent)
Derivation:
bigness (the property of having a relatively great size)
Sense 8
Meaning:
Loud and firm
Example:
big bold piano sounds
Classified under:
Adjectives
Similar:
loud (characterized by or producing sound of great volume or intensity)
Sense 9
Meaning:
(of animals) fully developed
Example:
a grown woman
Synonyms:
adult; big; full-grown; fully grown; grown; grownup
Classified under:
Adjectives
Similar:
mature (having reached full natural growth or development)
Domain category:
animal; animate being; beast; brute; creature; fauna (a living organism characterized by voluntary movement)
Sense 10
Meaning:
Very intense
Example:
a bad storm
Synonyms:
bad; big
Classified under:
Adjectives
Similar:
intense (possessing or displaying a distinctive feature to a heightened degree)
Sense 11
Meaning:
Feeling self-importance
Example:
he was swelled with pride
Synonyms:
big; swelled; vainglorious
Classified under:
Adjectives
Similar:
proud (feeling self-respect or pleasure in something by which you measure your self-worth; or being a reason for pride)
Sense 12
Meaning:
Exhibiting self-importance
Example:
big talk
Synonyms:
big; boastful; braggart; bragging; braggy; cock-a-hoop; crowing; self-aggrandising; self-aggrandizing
Classified under:
Adjectives
Similar:
proud (feeling self-respect or pleasure in something by which you measure your self-worth; or being a reason for pride)
Sense 13
Meaning:
Prodigious
Example:
heavy investor
Synonyms:
big; heavy
Classified under:
Adjectives
Similar:
intemperate (excessive in behavior)
II. (adverb)
Sense 1
Meaning:
In a boastful manner
Example:
he talked big all evening
Synonyms:
big; boastfully; large; vauntingly
Classified under:
Sense 2
Meaning:
In a major way
Example:
the play failed big at the box office
Classified under:
Sense 3
Meaning:
On a grand scale
Example:
think big
Classified under:
Adverbs
Antonym:
small (on a small scale)
Sense 4
Meaning:
Extremely well
Example:
his performance went over big
Classified under:
Adverbs
Context examples:
“Out with you, you idle, good-for-nothing creatures!” cried they; “we cannot find food for you any longer; you are big enough, and can provide for yourselves.”
(Fairy Tales, by The Brothers Grimm)
High birth weight babies are often big because the parents are big, or the mother has diabetes during pregnancy.
(Birth Weight, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention)
“If we could pull the plug on the oceans, it would be clear to everybody that we have mountain chains and a big, high-standing continent,” he told TVNZ.
(Researchers Argue for Eighth Continent: Zealandia, VOA)
Immense black holes are common at the cores of galaxies, but finding one this big so "far back" in the cosmos is rare.
(The Most Luminous Galaxy in Universe, NASA)
An inactive substance used to make a product bigger or easier to handle.
(Filler, NCI Dictionary)
Cigarettes are a big risk too - they are the leading cause of fire deaths.
(Fire Safety, NIH)
It often starts in the big toe.
(Arthritis, NIH: National Institute of Arthritis and Musculoskeletal and Skin Diseases)
"The combination of creativity and analytical thinking has once again paid off big time for NASA," said Scott Bolton, Juno principal investigator from the Southwest Research Institute in San Antonio.
(NASA's Juno Navigators Enable Jupiter Cyclone Discovery, NASA)
If the high-pressure system becomes bigger, you are going to get bigger heat waves that affect more people, and you are likely going to get stronger heat waves.
(Stalled weather patterns will get bigger due to climate change, National Science Foundation)
For years, scientists had known that carbon dioxide was increasing the total biomass of marsh plants, so it seemed natural to think individual plants were getting bigger, too.
(High carbon dioxide can create 'shrinking stems' in marshes, National Science Foundation)
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