writ large
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English
[edit]Etymology
[edit]From writ (“(archaic) written”) + large, from the poem “On the New Forces of Conscience under the Long Parliament” in Poems, &c. upon Several Occasions (1673) by the English poet John Milton (1608–1674): “New Presbyter is but Old Priest writ large”;[1] Milton was using the phrase in the sense “written more completely”.[2]
Pronunciation
[edit]- (Received Pronunciation) IPA(key): /ɹɪt ˈlɑːd͡ʒ/
- (General American) IPA(key): /ɹɪt ˈlɑɹd͡ʒ/
- Rhymes: -ɑː(ɹ)dʒ
Adjective
[edit]writ large (comparative writ larger, superlative writ largest) (figuratively)
- On a large scale; magnified.
- Antonym: writ small
- 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:
- 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.
- 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 Tono-Bungay), section III, page 258:
- 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; […]
- 1995 January 23, Stephen R[ichards] Covey, quotee, “One Man’s Ted Sorensen is Another’s Marianne Williamson”, in Time[1], volume 145, number 3, New York, N.Y.: Time Inc., →ISSN, →OCLC, archived from the original on 10 February 2022:
- Public behavior is merely private character writ large.
- 2009, Thomas Pepinsky, Economic Crises and the Breakdown of Authoritarian Regimes, New York, N.Y.: Cambridge University Press, →ISBN, page 40:
- In the case of Malaysia, for instance, the regime depends not on "labour" writ large but specifically on the unorganised Malay masses.
- 2023 April 20, Casey Schwartz, “Jean Twenge is ready to make you defend your generation again”, in The Washington Post[2]:
- 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.
- 2024, Jeremy B. Rudd, A Practical Guide to Macroeconomics, p. 13
- And, of course, none of this solves the basic problem that aggregate variables will not typically behave as individual-level variables writ large.
- Readily discerned, unmistakably indicated; clear, obvious.
- 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:
- "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."
- 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:
- Meantime the old salt ("ex-coasting skipper" was writ large all over his person) had hobbled up alongside in his bumpy, shiny boots.
- 2002 October 3, Andrea Sachs, “Galley Girl: The Working Mother Edition”, in Time[3], New York, N.Y.: Time Warner Publishing, →ISSN, →OCLC, archived from the original on 24 August 2013:
- Bestsellerdom is writ large for this novel, sure to be greeted with rave reviews.
Usage notes
[edit]The term is usually placed after the noun modified. For uses of “writ large” in a verb sense, see write.
Translations
[edit]on a large scale — see magnified
References
[edit]- ^ John Milton (1673) “On the New Forces of Conscience under the Long Parliament”, in Poems, &c. upon Several Occasions, London: […] Tho[mas] Dring […], →OCLC, page 69: “And ſuccor our juſt Fears / VVhen they ſhall read this clearly in your charge / Nevv Presbyter is but Old Prieſt vvrit Large.”
- ^ “writ (also written)” under “write, v.”, in OED Online
, Oxford, Oxfordshire: Oxford University Press, December 2021; “writ large, phrase”, in Lexico, Dictionary.com; Oxford University Press, 2019–2022.