Home US English the big picture

Definition of the big picture in English:

the big picture

Translate the big picture into Spanish

phrase

(also the bigger picture)
informal

  • The situation as a whole.

    • ‘he's so involved in the minutiae that he often overlooks the big picture’
    • ‘He sees the big picture of the whole industry, and that generates a lot of respect.’
    • ‘Decency paves the way, full of home sweet values which too often are overlooked in the big picture.’
    • ‘Nolan has good reason to be excited but he is doing his best not to let the big game divert attention from the big picture.’
    • ‘You're so entangled in it, and so concerned about the details of your current situation, that you miss the big picture.’
    • ‘These, of course, are two very different areas of the big picture.’
    • ‘Because of the way institutions work, an engineer ends up working on one part of a system but doesn't get to stand back and see the big picture.’
    • ‘Happily glide from the big picture to the detail and back again.’
    • ‘Their world belongs to the big picture, but even this view can often be clouded by the irritating inconvenience of detail.’
    • ‘If it had been all lovely I might have left with an inability to see the big picture and would missed those pieces I really did enjoy.’
    • ‘He loves such words, toying with them, searching out their roots, using them to illustrate the big picture.’