big brother

1. An older brother.

2. A man who assumes the role of an older brother, as by providing guidance or protection.

a. also Big Brother An omnipresent, seemingly benevolent figure representing the oppressive control over individual lives exerted by an authoritarian government.

b. A state, organization, or leader regarded in this manner.

[Sense 3, after Big Brother, , a character in the novel 1984 by George Orwell.]

American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fifth Edition. Copyright © 2016 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.

Big Brother

1. (Government, Politics & Diplomacy) a person, organization, etc, that exercises total dictatorial control

2. (Broadcasting) a television gameshow format in which a small number of people living in accommodation sealed off from the outside world are constantly monitored by TV cameras. Viewers vote each week to expel a person from the group until there is only one person left, who wins a cash prize

[C20: after a character in George Orwell's novel 1984 (1949)]

Collins English Dictionary – Complete and Unabridged, 12th Edition 2014 © HarperCollins Publishers 1991, 1994, 1998, 2000, 2003, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2011, 2014

big′ broth′er

1. an elder brother.

2. (sometimes caps.) a man who undertakes to sponsor or assist a boy in need of help or guidance.

3. (caps.)

a. the head of a totalitarian regime that keeps its citizens under close surveillance.

b. the aggregate of powerful officials and policymakers of a totalitarian state.

[1860–65; (definition 3) the epithet of a dictator in George Orwell's novel 1984 (1949)]

ThesaurusAntonymsRelated WordsSynonymsLegend:

Noun	1.	Big Brother - an authoritarian leader and invader of privacy authoritarian, dictator - a person who behaves in a tyrannical manner; "my boss is a dictator who makes everyone work overtime"
	2.	big brother - an older brother blood brother, brother - a male with the same parents as someone else; "my brother still lives with our parents"

Big Brother

noun

An absolute ruler, especially one who is harsh and oppressive:

despot, dictator, führer, man on horseback, oppressor, strongman, totalitarian, tyrant.

Translations

storebroderstorebror

isoveli

frère aîné

bátya

storebror

big brother

n → Grande Fratello

Collins Italian Dictionary 1st Edition © HarperCollins Publishers 1995

Mentioned in

References in classic literature

The big brother counted upon a pious, docile, learned, and honorable pupil.

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When we next hear of him he is a big boy, the hero of the nursery with four little sisters, and a wee, toddling, baby brother, to all of whom he loved to play big brother. His sisters would often sit on his knee and listen to the wonderful tales he told.

Meantime keep the picture of the kindly big brother, and imagine him growing into a lovable and brave man, into a poet who wins our hearts almost unawares by the beauty of his poetry, his poetry which has been called "a beautiful dream of the future." Of some of it I shall now tell you a little.

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I'll tell my big brother on you, and he can thrash you with his little finger, and I'll make him do it, too."

"What do I care for your big brother? I've got a brother that's bigger than he is -- and what's more, he can throw him over that fence, too." [Both brothers were imaginary.]

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There was Pa Tuxton, an old feller with a beard and glasses; a fat uncle; a big brother, who worked in a bank and was dressed like Moses in all his glory; and a little brother with a snub nose, that cheeky you'd have been surprised.

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He was her big brother. Meriem alone underwent no change.

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"We start in an hour in the whale-boat for Guvutu, big brother," Joan said to him.

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In the United States, the telephone has grown to be the big brother of the telegraph.

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Sometimes, and with an exquisite humility, he took no gun, but went out with a peaceful bamboo cane; Rawdon, his big brother, and the keepers blazing away at his side.

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Now she was leaning against him, in a cosy, confiding way, delightful to behold, while Will's strong arm went round her with a protecting air, which said, as plainly as any words, that this big brother and small sister knew how to love and help one another.

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His big brother Charlie was in love with the guileless maiden who played the part of "Little Bright-Eyes" in "The Kaliph of Kamskatka." He had been on the verge of marrying her once, only "the guv'ner" had sworn to disinherit him, and had presented him with a sum that would stagger the imagination, and that had staggered the virtue of "Little Bright-Eyes." Now Charlie had got leave from college, and had gone away in his automobile on the next best thing to a honeymoon.

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