big three

Proper noun capitalized: Big Three

the Big Three

1. (UK, World War II) The World War II military alliance consisting of the Soviet Union, the United States, and the United Kingdom.

   Synonyms:

   Grand Alliance

   1. (UK, World War II) The leaders of that alliance: Joseph Stalin, Franklin Roosevelt, and Winston Churchill.
2. Any group of three major or largest corporations in a given industry, especially when such a small group has oligopoly or near-oligopoly.
   • But over the last two generations, fund management has institutionalized and industrialized. It grew bigger to provide pensions to fast-growing postwar populations, and adopted passive management as the most effective way to do this. […] The logic behind these moves was clear, but it led to a...2025 November 14, John Authers, “Has Passive Investing Grown Too Big to Proxy? The inconvenient truth of shareholder detachment surfaces in antitrust probe”, in Bloomberg Opinion
   1. (US) The three major traditional commercial broadcast television networks in the United States: CBS (the Columbia Broadcasting System), NBC (the National Broadcasting Company), and ABC (the American Broadcasting Company)
   2. (US, historical) During the mid- to late twentieth century, the three biggest automaker corporations in North America: General Motors, Ford, and Chrysler.
   3. (US) A trio of three major management consultancies: McKinsey & Company, Boston Consulting Group, and Bain & Company.
3. China, Japan, and Korea, three major Asian economies.
4. The deadlift, squat and benchpress.
   • The Squat, Deadlift, and Bench Press are widely accepted to be the ‘Big Three’ powerlifting exercises by strength and conditioning experts.2021 July 9, Sakdirat Kaewunruen, Junhui Huang, Jordan Haslam, “Insights into noise and vibration stemming from the gym’s heavy lifting”, in Sport Sciences for Health, volume 18, →DOI, pages 277–286
5. Novak Djokovic, Roger Federer, and Rafael Nadal, each considered to be among the greatest tennis players of all time.
6. Naruto, One Piece, and Bleach, each considered to be the most influential shonen manga of the 2000s.