big-screen

1 of 2

adjective

ˈbig-ˌskrēn 

1

: relating to movies or to the movie industry

She worked on the novel's big-screen adaptation.

Big-screen villains that resemble America's real-world enemies are as old as the movies themselves.

—Vanity Fair

2

: having a large screen

a big-screen television

And in my experience testing big-screen phones …, it really is far more difficult to do anything on them one-handed, including typing.

—John Gruber

big screen

2 of 2

noun

: the movie medium often as contrasted to television

a story adapted for the big screen

Synonyms

Noun

• cinema
• film
• filmdom
• filmland
• filmmaking
• movie
• moviemaking
• pictures
• screen
• silver screen

Examples of big-screen in a Sentence

Noun

many actors now take roles for both television and the big screen

Recent Examples on the Web

Adjective

Chalamet earned an Oscar nomination for Best Actor this week for playing Dylan in the big-screen biopic A Complete Unknown, which hit theaters in December. —Dave Nemetz, TVLine, 25 Jan. 2025

While Samsung didn’t reveal any details about the device, it is rumored to be as slim as 6.4mm, which is around 2mm slimmer than the current big-screen flagships. —Prakhar Khanna, Forbes, 23 Jan. 2025

Noun

Netflix operates and books big screen classic venues The Paris in NYC and the American Cinematheque Egyptian Theatre in LA. —Anthony D'alessandro, Deadline, 17 Jan. 2025

Whenever Maher’s face was beamed onto the stadium’s big screen, huge cheers erupted from the thousands gathered in the Dolman Stand and South Stand. —Caoimhe O'Neill, The Athletic, 6 Jan. 2025

Word History

First Known Use

Adjective

1914, in the meaning defined at sense 1

Noun

1914, in the meaning defined above

Kids Definition

big screen

noun

: the motion-picture medium as contrasted to television