{"id":7444,"date":"2020-07-30T15:40:34","date_gmt":"2020-07-30T19:40:34","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/english\/?p=7444"},"modified":"2020-07-30T15:40:34","modified_gmt":"2020-07-30T19:40:34","slug":"big","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/english\/big\/","title":{"rendered":"Big"},"content":{"rendered":"<div id=\"attachment_7445\" style=\"width: 1034px\" class=\"wp-caption alignnone post-item__attachment\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-7445\" class=\"size-large wp-image-7445\" src=\"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/english\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/31\/2020\/07\/Big-1024x576.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"1024\" height=\"576\" srcset=\"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/english\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/31\/2020\/07\/Big-1024x576.jpg 1024w, https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/english\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/31\/2020\/07\/Big-350x197.jpg 350w, https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/english\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/31\/2020\/07\/Big-768x432.jpg 768w, https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/english\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/31\/2020\/07\/Big.jpg 1175w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 1024px) 100vw, 1024px\" \/><p id=\"caption-attachment-7445\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">Image by Nel Botha from Pixabay<\/p><\/div>\n<p>I was watching a news program the other night, on a very respected network, and heard the host describe something as <strong>humongous<\/strong>. While I knew what she meant, I wondered if everyone watching the show would understand. What\u2019s more, I was a bit startled at her choice of adjective, since I\u2019ve always considered the word to be very informal and rather colloquial. Then it occurred to me that she was just trying to conjure up a synonym for one of the most basic words in the English language. She was trying to find a more descriptive word for something that was <strong>big<\/strong>.<\/p>\n<p>Whether you are describing size, importance, intensity, or seriousness, you know that the most common words are big and little, and large and small. You also probably know that those words are so common as to have no impact. If you want to stress size, other words must be used instead.<\/p>\n<p>Fortunately, English is a language filled with synonyms for things both big and small. We also have marvelous idioms for matters of size as well. At some later date, I\u2019ll focus on vocabulary for small things, but today let\u2019s go big, shall we?<\/p>\n<h3 style=\"text-align: center\"><strong>It\u2019s All About Emphasis<\/strong><\/h3>\n<p>When it comes to big, one size doesn\u2019t fit all. Saying that something is large or big doesn\u2019t clearly describe the object. We need to compare it with something. There was a large dog running loose in the neighborhood. Large like a typical German Shephard, or large like a bear? Was it large in length or in height, or both? The reason that English has so many descriptive words for big things is to paint a clear verbal picture. At least, that\u2019s the intention. Consider these synonyms for big things.<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li><strong>Colossal <\/strong>\u2013 Comes to us from the ancient statue the Colossus of Rhodes, a statue of the sun god Helios built around nearly 300 B.C. and reportedly standing over 100 feet high.<\/li>\n<li><strong>Brobdingnagian \u2013<\/strong> Okay, you don\u2019t hear this word often enough. It refers to a race of giants from the fictional land of Brobdingnag in Jonathan Swift\u2019s book. <em>Gulliver\u2019s Travels<\/em>.<\/li>\n<li><strong>Gargantuan <\/strong>\u2013 From the French word Gargantua, a giant with a very large appetite in a book by the poet Fran\u00e7ois Rabelais, <em>The Inestimable Life of Gargantua<\/em>.<\/li>\n<li><strong>Mammoth <\/strong>\u2013 This refers to the ancient species, the Mammoth, which lived in the Pleistocene and early Holocene eras. Imagine an African elephant but three times its size.<\/li>\n<li><strong>Massive <\/strong>\u2013 Something of great size and, therefore, physical mass.<\/li>\n<li><strong>Monumental <\/strong>\u2013 Large enough to be a natural monument. Think of something like Devil\u2019s Tower in Wyoming.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<div id=\"attachment_7446\" style=\"width: 650px\" class=\"wp-caption alignnone post-item__attachment\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-7446\" class=\"size-full wp-image-7446\" src=\"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/english\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/31\/2020\/07\/Devils-Tower-Small.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"640\" height=\"480\" srcset=\"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/english\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/31\/2020\/07\/Devils-Tower-Small.jpg 640w, https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/english\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/31\/2020\/07\/Devils-Tower-Small-350x263.jpg 350w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 640px) 100vw, 640px\" \/><p id=\"caption-attachment-7446\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">Image of Devil&#8217;s Tower by 3282700 from Pixabay<\/p><\/div>\n<ul>\n<li><strong>Enormous <\/strong>\u2013 Huge and vast<\/li>\n<li><strong>Ginormous <\/strong>\u2013 This popular <strong>colloquialism<\/strong> combines the words <strong>giant<\/strong> and <strong>enormous<\/strong>.<\/li>\n<li><strong>Humongous <\/strong>\u2013 Combining the adjectives <strong>huge<\/strong> and <strong>enormous<\/strong>, with <strong>stupendous<\/strong>, a synonym for both large and impressive.<\/li>\n<li><strong>Gigantic <\/strong>\u2013 Having the characteristics of a giant.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<h3 style=\"text-align: center\"><strong>Of Great Importance<\/strong><\/h3>\n<p>Sometimes something large or big can be more than size, it can be important. Most of the following words can be synonymous with those above, but they more commonly refer to things of great meaning, such as a major event.<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li><strong>Momentous<\/strong><\/li>\n<li><strong>Consequential<\/strong><\/li>\n<li><strong>Significant<\/strong><\/li>\n<li><strong>Singular<\/strong><\/li>\n<li><strong>Vital<\/strong><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<h3 style=\"text-align: center\"><strong>Some Idioms for Big and Large<\/strong><\/h3>\n<ul>\n<li><strong>Larger than life <\/strong>\u2013 Referring to someone or something deserving of special attention.<\/li>\n<li><strong>On a grand scale <\/strong>\u2013 Something that was done to draw attention.<\/li>\n<li><strong>Over the top <\/strong>\u2013 So big as to be almost unbelievable.<\/li>\n<li><strong>The bigger they are, the harder they fall <\/strong>\u2013 When self-important people fail, they fail spectacularly.<\/li>\n<li><strong>That was big of you <\/strong>\u2013 Generosity &#8211; this is sometimes intended sarcastically.<\/li>\n<li><strong>That was a big deal <\/strong>\u2013 When something important happens.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>This was just a sample of words and phrases associated with big and large. Can you think of others that you\u2019ve heard?<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<img width=\"350\" height=\"197\" src=\"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/english\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/31\/2020\/07\/Big-350x197.jpg\" class=\"attachment-post-thumbnail size-post-thumbnail wp-post-image\" alt=\"\" decoding=\"async\" loading=\"lazy\" srcset=\"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/english\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/31\/2020\/07\/Big-350x197.jpg 350w, https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/english\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/31\/2020\/07\/Big-1024x576.jpg 1024w, https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/english\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/31\/2020\/07\/Big-768x432.jpg 768w, https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/english\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/31\/2020\/07\/Big.jpg 1175w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 350px) 100vw, 350px\" \/><p>I was watching a news program the other night, on a very respected network, and heard the host describe something as humongous. While I knew what she meant, I wondered if everyone watching the show would understand. What\u2019s more, I was a bit startled at her choice of adjective, since I\u2019ve always considered the word&hellip;<\/p>\n<p class=\"post-item__readmore\"><a class=\"btn btn--md\" href=\"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/english\/big\/\">Continue Reading<\/a><\/p>","protected":false},"author":138,"featured_media":7445,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"content-type":""},"categories":[135139,135370],"tags":[219133,333436,13],"class_list":["post-7444","post","type-post","status-publish","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-english-language","category-english-vocabulary","tag-big","tag-english-idioms","tag-vocabulary"],"aioseo_notices":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7444","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/138"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=7444"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7444\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":7448,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7444\/revisions\/7448"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/7445"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=7444"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=7444"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=7444"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}