big gun
/'big'gʌn/
Học thuậtThân thiện
Definition
- Noun:
- An important, influential, or powerful person: A "big gun" refers to a person who holds significant authority, influence, or status within a particular field, organization, or context. The term often implies that the person is a key player or a major force.
Examples of Usage
- Noun:
- For this crucial negotiation, we need to bring in the big guns from the head office.
- The conference featured several big guns from the tech industry, including the CEOs of major companies.
- He's not just a manager; he's one of the big guns who makes the final decisions.
Advanced Usage
- "To bring out / roll out the big guns": To use or involve the most important, powerful, or influential people or resources in order to achieve something.
- The legal team brought out the big guns for the Supreme Court case.
- When the project started failing, the company rolled out the big guns to fix it.
Variants and Related Words
- Big shot (noun): A very important or influential person. (Often used similarly to "big gun," but can sometimes carry a slightly more informal or boastful connotation.)
- Bigwig (noun): An important person, especially in a particular organization. (Informal)
- Big cheese (noun): An important, powerful person. (Informal, somewhat old-fashioned)
- Heavyweight (noun): A person of great importance, influence, or skill in a particular area.
- A political heavyweight.
Synonyms
- VIP (Very Important Person): A person of great importance or influence.
- Mogul: A powerful or influential person, especially in business or industry.
- Luminary: A person who inspires or influences others, especially one prominent in a particular sphere.
- Top brass: The people in the highest positions of authority, especially in the military or an organization.
Related Phrases
- Top dog: The person who is the most important or powerful in a particular group.
- After the merger, she became the top dog in the department.
- Key player: A person who has a very important role in an activity or organization.
- He is a key player in the research and development team.
Related Idioms
- A big fish in a small pond: An important or influential person, but only within a limited context or small organization/community.
- He was a big gun at his old company, but here he's just another manager. (This illustrates the relative nature of the term "big gun.")
- The powers that be: The people in authority; the leaders or decision-makers.
- The final approval has to come from the big guns, the powers that be.
Noun
- an important influential person
- he thinks he's a big shot
- she's a big deal in local politics
- the Qaeda commander is a very big fish