big cheese
8
5.3
- idiom
- Slang
:
pez gordo
- At the conference, the big cheese shared his vision for the company's future.
- talk to the big cheese
And this is a surgeon, you know, the, the, the, the big cheese.
- And this is a surgeon, you know, the, the, the, the big cheese.
Examples
-
That's 'cause he's the big cheese around here.
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'Cause I'm Reginald, the big cheese!
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Oh, I know you are waiting for the big cheese, and...
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I am a big cheese!
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Come on, who was the big cheese?
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I'm gonna be a big cheese in the Big Apple.
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So what's up with the big cheese anyway?
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I'm gonna go talk to the big cheese.
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- He's the big cheese.
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Numero Uno, the big cheese, the cream of the crop.
Blog text (12)
Synonyms
126
4.0
A very important and influential person in a field
91
3.9
A person who is important and powerful in a job or field
57
4.5
A person, team, or organization that is very successful and able to influence others
43
3.5
A famous and important person or group in one area
37
3.8
An important person who is treated as successful or powerful
35
6.8
A very important event, thing, or person that matters a lot
33
7.0
The most important person who controls a group or activity
29
3.8
A person or company that has a lot of power in a field
22
6.9
An important person with power in a company or group
16
2.5
A person with great power or status who gets special treatment
15
3.2
A person whose actions or ideas strongly affect other people's choices
14
3.6
An important person in a group or organization who has power
12
4.9
A person who has a lot of power and influence in a field
9
5.1
An important person with power in a company or field
9
6.3
A person who is in charge of a company or group
4
9.5
A very important person in a group or organization, often the most powerful
4
7.5
A very large, strong, or important person like a leader
2
6.7
A person who is very important and powerful in a group
1
7.5
A person who is in charge of a group and makes the main decisions
1
8.1
An important person who makes key decisions for a group
1
7.7
The most important person in a group or organization
1
8.6
A person who has a lot of influence or authority in a field
1
8.6
An important person with power in a group or area
1
5.6
An important person who has a lot of power in a group
1
8.9
An important person in charge who people call jokingly
1
8.2
A very large and powerful company or group that dominates its field
A person or thing that leads a group and shows the best example
Antonyms
How Important
125
3.1
- Informal
91
3.9
- Slang
8
5.3
50
1.8
- Offensive
14
5.8
Surface Forms
Morphology
big + cheese
Although 'big' can signal importance, the noun 'cheese' has no literal relation to an influential person, and the phrase's idiomatic, slangy meaning is not compositionally predictable from its parts. A B1 learner who knows 'big' and 'cheese' would not reliably infer 'important person', so the expression should be treated as opaque.
Etymology
The phrase big cheese may come from British people in India who heard a local word meaning 'thing' and used big with a sound like cheese to say 'big thing'. So the image of a 'big thing' turned into big cheese meaning 'an important person'.