Meaning & use
big accomplishment
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Meanings
phrasecountable
Something important and difficult that you have succeeded in doing, especially after real effort.
Grammar: Countable phrase: say 'a big accomplishment' or 'big accomplishments'; it usually follows verbs like be, feel like, or achieve.
Patterns
- be a big accomplishment for someone
- achieve a big accomplishment
- a big accomplishment in something
Finishing the marathon after months of training was a big accomplishment for her.
Getting his first book published felt like a big accomplishment.
The team treated the new bridge as a big accomplishment for the whole town.
phrasecountable
A notable success or achievement that other people admire or praise.
Grammar: Often used after 'consider', 'call', or 'see as' to say how people judge a success: 'They called it a big accomplishment.'
Patterns
- consider something a big accomplishment
- call something a big accomplishment
- see something as a big accomplishment
The judges considered the young scientist's discovery a big accomplishment.
Her teachers saw passing the exam as a big accomplishment.
Winning the contract was called a big accomplishment by the company.
Word forms
| plural | big accomplishments |
|---|
Common combinations
- a real big accomplishment
- Learning to swim at sixty was a real big accomplishment.
- feel like a big accomplishment
- After all that work, it feels like a big accomplishment.
- quite a big accomplishment
- Winning the scholarship was quite a big accomplishment.
- a big accomplishment for someone
- Speaking in public was a big accomplishment for him.
- mark a big accomplishment
- The award marked a big accomplishment in her career.
Synonyms and how they differ
- achievement
- Achievement is the more formal, neutral word and often appears in official contexts, while 'big accomplishment' sounds warmer and more personal.
- success
- Success focuses on the good result itself; 'big accomplishment' stresses the effort and difficulty behind it.
- feat
- Feat suggests something impressive and unusual, often physical or daring, so it is stronger and more dramatic than 'big accomplishment'.
Opposites
Word family
- accomplish verb
- to succeed in doing something you planned to do
- accomplished adjective
- skilled and experienced, or successfully completed
- accomplishment noun
- a thing done successfully, or the act of finishing something
Commonly confused: big accomplishment or achievement?
big accomplishment vs achievement
Very close in meaning, but 'achievement' is countable and formal and often used for awards and records, while 'big accomplishment' is a phrase you would more likely use in everyday talk about personal effort.
Practice
Which sentence uses the phrase correctly?
Choose one answer.
'A big accomplishment' needs the article 'a' and stays singular after 'was'. Option 1 misses the article, option 2 wrongly makes it plural, and option 3 uses 'the' as if there were only one accomplishment in the world.
Make it your own
Write a sentence using “big accomplishment”, then check it and compare it with the examples above.