big enchilada


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big enchilada

or Big Enchilada
n. Slang
1. The most important or powerful person in an enterprise or field: "[the President's] big enchilada on both foreign and domestic policy" (Mary McGrory).
2. Something of the highest value or importance: "[The team] won the big enchilada in 1980 and 1982" (Scott Ostler).
[On the model of such expressions as big cheese (probably taken as from cheese).]
ThesaurusAntonymsRelated WordsSynonymsLegend:
Noun1.Big Enchilada - an important influential personbig enchilada - 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"
big cheese, big deal, big fish, big gun, big shot, big wheel, head honcho
colloquialism - a colloquial expression; characteristic of spoken or written communication that seeks to imitate informal speech
important person, influential person, personage - a person whose actions and opinions strongly influence the course of events
knocker - (Yiddish) a big shot who knows it and acts that way; a boastful immoderate person
supremo - the most important person in an organization
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References in periodicals archive ?
Granted, 2018's Big Enchilada went to a bizarre romantic fantasy involving a dancing Creature From the Black Lagoon, "The Shape of Water," a strong deviation from the Academy's norm.
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The same uneasiness makes neurosurgeons joke, 'There go the piano lessons, when they cut into gray matter.' The brain, after all, is the Seat of the Soul, the Big Enchilada of Consciousness, the organ of Me-ness.
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This was the big enchilada of natural foods deals for Colorado in 2016.
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