by and large
by and large adverb: mostly; generally; all things considered.
Adverb
by and large (not comparable)
- Mostly; generally; all things considered.
- It was, by and large, an unexceptional presentation.
- Taking things by and large, as sailors say, I got on fairly well in the matter of provisions even on the long voyage across the Pacific.1901, Joshua Slocum, Sailing alone around the world, New York: The Century Company
- Synonyms:
- for the most part, generally, mostly, on the whole, usually, all in all, all things considered, altogether, broadly, as a rule
- In one way or another.
- Miss Betsey, a charming frigate, that will do honour to our country, if you take her by and large.1769, Southern Literary Messenger, volume XVII, number 183, page 2
- […] a man who has heard of the biter bit, feels rather perplexed on the whole, take it by-and-large […]1833, John Neal, The Down-Easters, volume 1, New York: Harper & Brothers
- Sailing alternately into the wind and in the same direction as the wind.
- […] For to make a Ship to drawe or goe but little into the water, and to hold a good winde, and to ſaile well both by and large, were very neceſſarie, and eſpecially in theſe our ſhallowe Seas, […]1578, William Bourne, Inventions or Devises, London
by and large meaning in Tamil, Telugu, Malayalam and Arabic
by and large in Tamil
- மொத்தத்தில், மொத்தமாய்ப் பார்ப்பின்
by and large in Telugu
- mostly, generally; with few exceptions
- మొత్తమ్మీద mottammīda
by and large in Malayalam
- generally, on the whole, in general
- പൊതുവെ, ആകപ്പാടെ നോക്കുമ്പോൾ, സർവ്വവും പരിഗണിക്കുമ്പോൾ, എല്ലാംകൂടി നോക്കുമ്പോൾ, മിക്കവാറും, ഏറെക്കുറെ
by and large in Arabic
- mostly, generally; with few exceptions
- عَلَى اَلْعَمُوم ʕalā l-ʕamūm
More languagesFewer languages
- by and large in Persian
- کلاً kollan
Examples of by and large in a sentence
- “The people doing this by and large don’t have any real concept of how to tell a story, and neither do any kind of A.I.,” Ms.2023 February 23, Michael Levenson, quoting Sheila Williams, “Science Fiction Magazines Battle a Flood of Chatbot-Generated Stories”, in...
- Yes, you have balises and marker boards, and you still have train detection, but by and large there is simply less to deliver.2024 May 29, Philip Haigh, “The digital revolution and the switch to in-cab signalling”, in RAIL, number 1010, page 29:
Synonyms of by and large
- for the most part
- generally
- mostly
- on the whole
- usually
- all in all
- all things considered
- altogether
- broadly
- as a rule
12 more synonymsFewer synonyms
Origin of by and large
From sailing: a ship may (or may not) sail well both close by the wind, and large, downwind, with sheets extended.
Questions about by and large
- What does by and large mean?
- By and large means mostly; generally; all things considered.
- What is by and large in Tamil?
- By and large in Tamil is மொத்தத்தில், மொத்தமாய்ப் பார்ப்பின். See By and large meaning in Tamil.
- How do you use by and large in a sentence?
- “The people doing this by and large don’t have any real concept of how to tell a story, and neither do any kind of A.I.,” Ms.
- What part of speech is by and large?
- By and large is an adverb.
Words near by and large in the dictionary
Source and license
Adapted from Wiktionary: by and large (page history and authors); by and large (Tamil Wiktionary) (page history and authors); by and large (Olam, E.K. Kurup corpus) (dataset and license). Text available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 license. Word.ws reformatted the entry and added links. Wiktionary data of 2026-09-02.
Last updated:
Pronunciation audio from Wikimedia Commons, each file under its own free license: en-au-by and large.ogg, LL-Q1860 (eng)-Naomi Persephone Amethyst (NaomiAmethyst)-by and large.wav.
Cite this entry: “by and large.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/by_and_large. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.