Meanings
plural big wheels
- idiomaticA person with a great deal of power or influence, especially a high-ranking person in an organization.
She's a big wheel at IBM.
Synonyms: big cheese, big enchilada, big kahuna, baron, big cheese, big enchilada, big gun, big kahuna
- IrelandUKA Ferris wheel.
- USA low-riding tricycle with a large front wheel.
Synonyms & antonyms
nounA person with a great deal of power or influence, especially a high-ranking person in an organization.
More synonyms by meaning
nounan important influential person
Synonym sets from Open English WordNet, CC BY 4.0.
Origin
(tricycle): Originally a brand name.
Full word history & related roots →Cite this entry
big wheel. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 4, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/big%20wheel
“big wheel.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/big%20wheel. Accessed November 4, 2026.
WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “big wheel,” accessed November 4, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/big%20wheel.
Source: big wheel on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.