the big time

noun phrase

: the highest or most successful level of an activity

He was a good basketball player but he never made (it to) the big time.

The group performed in small clubs for years before hitting the big time with a record deal.

Examples of the big time in a Sentence

Recent Examples on the Web

Willems discusses how kids can use their imagination to understand their place. 4:14 ABCNews.com Award-winning author and illustrator Mo Willems' creative spark elevated him to the big time among children's book creators, but his latest work takes us into teeny-weeny territory. —Abc News, ABC News, 2 Aug. 2024

Josh's parents soon grow accustomed to living with an enormous scaly beast, and things are further enlivened by the arrival of Lyle's former owner Hector (Javier Bardem), an eccentric showman who still hopes to hit the big time with the tuneful reptile. —Danny Horn, EW.com, 20 July 2024

That movie is coming up later in this list, but their second pairing, Tin Cup, is also pretty darn terrific, once again casting Costner as a coulda-been star who never quite made the big time. —Will Leitch, Vulture, 27 Apr. 2024

Here’s some of those who grew from their community roots to the big time: Baseball Adam Kolarek The 2007 Catonsville High graduate was drafted by the New York Mets in 2010 and made his Major League debut for the Tampa Bay Rays in 2017. —Craig J. Clary, Baltimore Sun, 5 Apr. 2024