get big or get out

phrase

An exhortation and admonition to family farms as businesses, or to other businesses in other industries, that they need to either expand their operations and capitalization or be outcompeted (by those who do so) and thus go out of business.

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Meanings

phrase
  1. An exhortation and admonition to family farms as businesses, or to other businesses in other industries, that they need to either expand their operations and capitalization or be outcompeted (by those who do so) and thus go out of business.

Synonyms & antonyms

Also see
go big or go homego hard or go home

Origin

Popularized by (and perhaps coined by) Earl Butz, a U.S. secretary of agriculture in the 1970s.

Full word history & related roots →
Cite this entry
APA

get big or get out. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 5, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/get%20big%20or%20get%20out

MLA

“get big or get out.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/get%20big%20or%20get%20out. Accessed November 5, 2026.

Chicago

WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “get big or get out,” accessed November 5, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/get%20big%20or%20get%20out.

Source: get big or get out on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.