big business

noun

Large, for-profit corporations collectively, understood as having significant economic, political, or social influence.

“The man in the sandwich board was railing against big business and big government.”

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Meanings

big business1

nounbig business (uncountable)
  1. capitalizedsometimesuncountableLarge, for-profit corporations collectively, understood as having significant economic, political, or social influence.

    The man in the sandwich board was railing against big business and big government.

    3 more examples

    Because he is liberal, temperate and articulate, and because he freely recognizes past Big Business abuses, Wendell L. Willkie, president of huge Commonwealth & Southern Corp., is in a class by himself as a persuasive businessman-critic of the New Deal. . . . "Today it is not Big Business that we have to fear," concluded Businessman Wilkie. "It is Big Government."

    1940 March 18, “Life on the Newsfronts of the World: Big Government”, in Life, retrieved 13 Dec 2011, page 26

    In an uncharacteristic rebuff to big business, President Carlos Saul Menem plans this week to propose a package of labor regulations that leaves intact most Government-mandated severance benefits and limits companies' right to hire part-time workers.

    1998 March 17, Clifford Krauss, “International Business: Argentine Labor Code Largely Intact”, in New York Times, retrieved 14 Dec 2011

    That smacks of cozy dealings between the government and the tycoons . . . . "Invariably, people see this as a conspiracy between the government and big business," says legislator Alan Leong.

    2005 January 17, Chaim Estulin, “Hong Kong's New Culture”, in Time
  2. uncountableA large and vital economic sector.

    In those days, cotton mills were big business around here, and so was tanning of hides.

Big Business2

nounBig Business (uncountable)
  1. alternativeuncountableAlternative form of big business.

Translations

Chinese Mandarin 大公司
  • 大公司 (dà gōngsī)large corporations
Finnish suuryritykset
  • suuryrityksetlarge corporations
German Big Business
  • Big Businesslarge corporations
Polish wielki świat biznesu
  • wielki świat biznesularge corporations
Russian большо́й би́знес
  • большо́й би́знес (bolʹšój bíznes)large corporations
Swedish storföretag
  • storföretaglarge corporations
Cite this entry
APA

big business. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 4, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/big%20business

MLA

“big business.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/big%20business. Accessed November 4, 2026.

Chicago

WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “big business,” accessed November 4, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/big%20business.

Source: big business on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.