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Glite Dictionary
biggish

biggish

1 1.9
A bit larger than usual but not very large
  • adjective
  • /ˈbɪɡɪʃ/
  • Informal
translation icon : bastante grande
  • She was a biggish woman, but attractive enough.

But I had a house which had a huge, a biggish, actually not huge, a big outbuilding that was a copy of the house.

Examples

  • Seeing a biggish Texaco station, set back off the road, Bill lazily circled the steering wheel to the left, and the car oozed onto the forecourt.

    Fiction book (1998)

  • It's a biggish property, over three hundred acres, perfect for hosting events.

  • And while this one will get biggish when it's mature, it's going to take forever.

  • 732 was a biggish Labrador, and strong.

    The Plague Dogs (1982)

  • I went on walking until I reached Klyuchi, a biggish, well-organized town in the middle of a hilly plain.

    Fiction book (1993)

  • The other biggish population is in the mountains that divide the heavily populated landscapes of Tuscany and Emilia Romagna, where censusing has proved difficult.

    Academic text (1996)

  • Lindsay's place was a biggish bungalow in our hometown, featuring three bedrooms and a den in the basement.

  • I reached Klyuchi, a biggish, well-organized town in the middle of a hilly plain.

Synonyms

big
vsbiggish
∞ 1.0

Larger than usual in size or amount

is milder and suggests only a somewhat large size
sizable
vsbiggish
  • US
64 3.7

Quite large in size or amount

is milder and used to indicate only modest largeness
medium-sized
vsbiggish
31 2.4

Of a size between small and large

is somewhat larger indicating a modest increase over average
medium-size
vsbiggish
3 2.3

Of a size between small and large

is bigger implying somewhat larger than average
largish
vsbiggish
  • Informal
2 3.5

Fairly big but not huge

is a milder term showing somewhat large size
moderate-size
vsbiggish
1 3.2

Larger than small but smaller than large

is larger suggesting something a bit more than intermediate

Antonyms

tiny
∞ 1.0

So small it can fit in your hand

smallish
10 2.0

A little smaller than usual

How Big

huge
∞ 1.0
big
∞ 1.0
biggish
  • Informal
1 1.9
medium
162 1.3
small
2 1.1
tiny
∞ 1.0

Surface Forms

biggish positive

Morphology

biggish = big (transparent) = big + ish

The adjective is formed by adding the usual diminutive/approximative suffix '-ish' to 'big', giving 'somewhat large', which is easily inferable by learners.

Etymology

The word biggish uses the ending -ish, which comes from an old English ending that meant 'like' or 'having the quality of' and now often means 'a little'. You can see the same idea in greenish and foolish, so biggish simply means 'somewhat big' or 'fairly large'.