BIG CHEESE

Pronunciation (US):

(GB):

IPA (US):

 Dictionary entry overview: What does big cheese mean? 

• BIG CHEESE (noun)
  The noun BIG CHEESE has 1 sense:

1. an important influential person

  Familiarity information: BIG CHEESE used as a noun is very rare.

 Dictionary entry details 

• BIG CHEESE (noun)

Sense 1

Meaning:

An important influential person

Classified under:

Nouns denoting people

Synonyms:

big cheese; big deal; big enchilada; big fish; big gun; big shot; big wheel; head honcho

Context example:

the Qaeda commander is a very big fish

Hypernyms ("big cheese" is a kind of...):

important person; influential person; personage (a person whose actions and opinions strongly influence the course of events)

Domain usage:

colloquialism (a colloquial expression; characteristic of spoken or written communication that seeks to imitate informal speech)

Hyponyms (each of the following is a kind of "big cheese"):

knocker ((Yiddish) a big shot who knows it and acts that way; a boastful immoderate person)

supremo (the most important person in an organization)