English

Adjective

writ large ‎(comparative writ larger, superlative writ largest)

1. Used other than as an idiom: see writ,‎ large,‎ larger,‎ largest.
   • 1957 Sept. 30, "Ghana: White Eminence," Time:

     Ghana's motto, writ large on the gleaming white Independence Arch that overlooks the Atlantic in Accra, is "Freedom and Justice."

2. (figuratively) Magnified; on a large scale.
   • 1909, H. G. Wells, Tono Bungay, ch. 8:

     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 Jan. 23, "One Man's Ted Sorensen Is Another's Marianne Williamson," Time:

     "Public behavior is merely private character writ large."

   • 2009, Thomas Pepinsky, Economic Crises and the Breakdown of Authoritarian Regimes, Cambridge University Press, New York, p. 40:

     In the case of Malaysia, for instance, the regime depends not on "labour" writ large but specifically on the unorganised Malay masses.

3. (figuratively) Readily discerned, unmistakably indicated.
   • 1903, Jack London, The People of the Abyss, ch. 1:

     "You don't want to live down there!" everybody said, with disapprobation writ large upon their faces.

   • 1906, Joseph Conrad, The Mirror of the Sea, ch. 31:

     Meantime the old salt ("ex-coasting skipper" was writ large all over his person) had hobbled up alongside in his bumpy, shiny boots.

   • 2002 Oct. 3, Andrea Sachs, "Galley Girl: The Working Mother Edition," Time:

     Bestsellerdom is writ large for this novel, sure to be greeted with rave reviews.

Usage notes

• Usually placed after the noun modified.

Related terms

• writ small