Dictionary

Big Four en · PROPN

Meanings

1. (historical, plural, plural-only) The four top Allied powers of World War I and their leaders: David Lloyd George of Britain, Georges Clemenceau of France, Vittorio Emanuele Orlando of Italy and Woodrow Wilson of the United States, who met at the Paris Peace Conference in 1919 at Versailles.
2. (plural, plural-only) A group of four entrepreneurs who formed the Central Pacific Railroad.
3. (plural, plural-only) A jazz rhythm derived from the marching band beat.
4. (plural, plural-only) Any group of four major or largest corporations in a given industry, especially when such a small group has oligopoly or near-oligopoly. ▸ The four largest banks in any of various countries, or (internationally) the Federal Reserve, People's Bank of China, Bank of Japan, and European Central Bank.
   • Banks have been reporting their results in recent days, with HSBC the latest to reveal higher profits. It is one of the so-called big four, which also includes Barclays, Lloyds and NatWest. ¶ In response. Harriett Baldwin, who chairs the Treasury Committee, said: "The big four banks have been far too slow to reward savers through better rates on instant access savings accounts." 2023 October 30, Kevin Peachey, “Big banks accused of doing little for savers”, in BBC News (news), BBC:
5. (plural, plural-only) Any group of four major or largest corporations in a given industry, especially when such a small group has oligopoly or near-oligopoly. ▸ The four largest corporations of Big Tech during the 2000s–2020s, usually defined as Alphabet (f.k.a. Google), Meta (f.k.a. Facebook), Amazon, and Apple.
   • The Big Four “hyperscalers”—Amazon, Alphabet, Meta and Microsoft—expect to deploy a combined $725bn of capital expenditure this year on data centres. 2026 July 25, Rafe Rosner-Uddin, Clara Murray, “US tech giants slash 140,000 jobs”, in FT Weekend, London: The Financial Times Ltd., →ISSN, →OCLC, page 1:
6. (plural, plural-only) Any group of four major or largest corporations in a given industry, especially when such a small group has oligopoly or near-oligopoly. ▸ The four largest global auditing firms, comprising Deloitte, Ernst & Young (EY), KPMG, and PwC.
   • That earned him a professional license he would need if he wanted to rise to the role of US senior partner at PwC, where he leads the Big Four firm's global advisory business and is co-head of its US consulting practice. 2023 November 4, Stephen Foley, Michael O'Dwyer, “Engineer pulls off structural change to lead Big Four firm”, in FT Weekend, London: The Financial Times Ltd., →ISSN, →OCLC, page 13:
7. (UK, historical, plural, plural-only) Any group of four major or largest corporations in a given industry, especially when such a small group has oligopoly or near-oligopoly. ▸ The four largest railway companies in the United Kingdom in the period 1923–1947: the Great Western Railway (GWR); the London, Midland and Scottish Railway (LMS); the London and North Eastern Railway (LNER); and the Southern Railway (SR).
   • In several respects, the conditions which prevailed when this great venture was begun differed greatly from those in which the "Big Four" companies had embarked upon their previous regime in 1923. 1951 April, D. S. Barrie, “British Railways: A Survey, 1948-1950”, in Railway Magazine, number 600, pages 223-224:
8. (plural, plural-only) Any group of four major or largest corporations in a given industry, especially when such a small group has oligopoly or near-oligopoly. ▸ The clothing trade shows (“fashion weeks”) in Paris, London, New York, and Milan.

Forms

Coordinates

big five · big eight · big one · Big One · big two · Big Three · big six

Relateds

big business

Synonyms

The Four Nations · Council of Four · Gang of Four