writ large

Adjective

writ large (comparative writ larger, superlative writ largest)

1. (figuratively, postpositional) On a large scale; magnified.
   • Since then his character had been ripened by a various experience, and also by much knowledge which he had set himself deliberately to gain. But the man was no more than the boy writ large, with an extensive commentary.1866, George Eliot [pseudonym; Mary Ann Evans], chapter VIII, in Felix Holt, the Radical […], volume I, Edinburgh; London: William Blackwood and Sons, →OCLC, pages 202–203
   • Yet it seems to me indeed at times that all this present commercial civilisation is no more than my poor uncle's career writ large, a swelling, thinning bubble of assurances; that its arithmetic is just as unsound, its dividends as ill-advised, its ultimate aim as vague and forgotten; […]1908, H[erbert] G[eorge] Wells, “The Hardingham Hotel, and How We Became Big People”, in Tono-Bungay […], Toronto, Ont.: The Macmillan Company of Canada, Ltd., →OCLC, 3rd book (The Great Days of...

   Antonyms:

   writ small

2. (figuratively, postpositional) Readily discerned, unmistakably indicated; clear, obvious.
   • "You don't want to live down there!" everybody said, with disapprobation writ large upon their faces. "Why, it is said there are places where a man's life isn't worth tu'pence."1903 October, Jack London, “The Descent”, in The People of the Abyss, New York, N.Y.: The Macmillan Company; London: Macmillan & Co., Ltd., →OCLC, page 2
   • Meantime the old salt ("ex-coasting skipper" was writ large all over his person) had hobbled up alongside in his bumpy, shiny boots.1904–1906, Joseph Conrad, “The Faithful River”, in The Mirror of the Sea, 1st American edition, New York, N.Y.; London: Harper & Brothers, published October 1906, →OCLC, page 181
3. (figuratively, postpositional) In general.
   • In the case of Malaysia, for instance, the regime depends not on "labour" writ large but specifically on the unorganised Malay masses.2009, Thomas Pepinsky, Economic Crises and the Breakdown of Authoritarian Regimes, New York, N.Y.: Cambridge University Press, →ISBN, page 40
   • Despite the disbelievers, technology writ large — from air conditioning to television to smartphones — is core to Twenge’s sense of what defines a generation, even down to when each one begins and ends.2023 April 20, Casey Schwartz, “Jean Twenge is ready to make you defend your generation again”, in The Washington Post