1(especially of a criminal or dangerous animal) at liberty; escaped or not yet captured.
‘the fugitive was still at large’
‘The prosecution are entitled to raise it and it is their duty to do so rather than allow a dangerous person to be at large.’
‘Finally, a power of entry is given to recapture a person who is unlawfully at large and whom the police officer is pursuing.’
‘It also signifies fugitives and runaways, including known criminals who are at large such as escaped convicts.’
‘The other three suspects escaped and are still at large.’
‘Please stay off the streets while these criminals are at large.’
‘The four assailants were not captured and are still at large.’
‘Police caught one of the thieves but the other eluded capture and is still at large.’
‘That commander was believed to be one of the last few senior-level Nazi war criminals still living at large.’
‘As for the wolf, there were claims that three animals had been at large, one killed by a train, another caught in a trap and a third still at liberty.’
at liberty, free, on the loose, on the run, fugitive
‘there has been a loss of community values in society at large’
‘When I send you one, you take it from me, generalise it at a glance, bestow it thus generalised upon society at large, and make me the second discoverer of a known theorem.’
‘Society at large obviously doesn't value their education either.’
‘And for another, society at large will not in general desire that its members should be victims of cruelty, and so its desires in this respect will be frustrated too.’
‘There must be a frank, honest dialogue with the public at large, so that society as a whole learns to have realistic expectations and to accept that death is part of life.’
‘He faces massive revolts in his own party and in the nation at large over a whole range of issues.’
‘The act required unclassified reports in order to inform Congress as a whole and the public at large.’
‘The duty is owed not to the world at large (as a duty in criminal law would be), but only to an individual within the scope of the risk created, that is, to a foreseeable victim.’
‘The public at large believes criminals should be punished.’
‘Like members of the public at large, the judge does not instruct jurors in a criminal case on what to think.’
‘I only hope that I am able to restrain them before these unutterable terrors escape into the world at large.’
as a whole, as a body, generally, in general, in the main