Meaning & use
biggest
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“biggest” is a form of “big”. See that entry for the full set of meanings.
Meaning
adjectivenot comparable
largest in size, amount, or importance compared with all others in a group.
Grammar: This is the superlative form of 'big'; it already means 'more big than all others', so it is not used with 'more' or 'most'.
Patterns
- the biggest something
- the biggest in something
- one of the biggest something
Tokyo is one of the biggest cities in the world.
That was the biggest mistake I have ever made.
She chose the biggest apple from the bowl.
Word forms
| positive | big |
|---|---|
| comparative | bigger |
Common combinations
- the biggest problem
- Traffic is the biggest problem in this area.
- the biggest city
- São Paulo is the biggest city in Brazil.
- one of the biggest
- He works for one of the biggest banks in Europe.
- the biggest ever
- This is the biggest ever sale at the store.
Synonyms and how they differ
- largest
- Often used for physical size or amount and is slightly more formal than 'biggest'.
- greatest
- Better for importance or degree, as in 'the greatest achievement', not for physical size.
Opposites
Word family
Commonly confused: biggest or bigger?
biggest vs bigger
'Bigger' compares two things (This box is bigger than that one); 'biggest' compares three or more (This is the biggest box of all).
Practice
Which sentence is correct?
Choose one answer.
'Biggest' is already a superlative, so it takes 'the' but not 'more' or 'most'. Option B is correct; An and C wrongly add another comparative word, and D is missing 'the'.
Make it your own
Write a sentence using “biggest”, then check it and compare it with the examples above.