Dictionary

larger than life en · ADJ

Pronunciation

• (Australia) audio

Meanings

1. (comparative-only) Of greater size or magnitude than is naturally or normally the case; of larger size than life-size.
   • At uniform intervals round the base of the pedestal, four naked figures in chains, somewhat larger than life, are seated in various attitudes of humiliation and despair. 1849, Herman Melville, “With His Prosy Old Guide-book, He Takes a Prosy Stroll”, in Redburn: His First Voyage. […], 1st American edition, New York, N.Y.: Harper & Brothers, […], →OCLC, page 197:
   • Miss Snevellicci's papa looked very big indeed—several sizes larger than life. 1838 March – 1839 October, Charles Dickens, chapter 30, in The Life and Adventures of Nicholas Nickleby, London: Chapman and Hall, […], published 1839, →OCLC:
2. (comparative-only, figuratively, of a person, usually) Very imposing, renowned, or impressively influential.
   • I'm holding out for a hero 'til the morning light / He's gotta be sure and it's gotta be soon / And he's gotta be larger than life 1984, Jim Steinman, Dean Pitchford, “Holding Out for a Hero”, performed by Bonnie Tyler:
   • And the next time / That I saw you / You were larger than life / You came and you conquered / You were doing alright 1996, Ani DiFranco, “Napoleon”, in Dilate:
   • Steve Jobs, driven by his genius and his gut, invented the iPhone and built Apple into the world’s most valuable company. He was uncompromising, larger than life and irreplaceable. 2023 November 21, David Streitfeld, “The Long Shadow of Steve Jobs Looms Over the Turmoil at OpenAI”, in The New York Times:
   • Nor has he cultivated the kind of flamboyant style with which his country became well acquainted in larger-than-life leaders from Chiang Kai-shek to Mao Zedong and Deng Xiaoping. 2007 December 31, Orville Schell, “Person of the Year Runners-up: Hu Jintao”, in Time, archived from the original on 11 Sep 2012:
   • This is a person of surpassing integrity; a man of the utmost sincerity; somewhat larger than life, perhaps. 1988 January 3, Joyce Carol Oates, “Intellectual Seduction”, in The New York Times, →ISSN:

Forms

Relateds

as large as life

Synonyms

bigger than life

Translations (4)

fr plus grand que nature (of greater size or magnitude than is natural) · pl przerysowany (of greater size or magnitude than is natural) · de überlebensgroß (of greater size or magnitude than is natural) · hu nagy formátumú (of greater size or magnitude than is natural)