Meaning of Big Four | Babel Free

Definitions

1. The four top Allied powers of World War I and their leaders: David Lloyd George of Britain, Georges Clemenceau of France, Vittorio Emanuele Orlando of Italy and Woodrow Wilson of the United States, who met at the Paris Peace Conference in 1919 at Versailles.
   historical, plural, plural-only
2. A group of four entrepreneurs who formed the Central Pacific Railroad.
   plural, plural-only
3. A jazz rhythm derived from the marching band beat.
   plural, plural-only
4. Any group of four major or largest corporations in a given industry, especially when such a small group has oligopoly or near-oligopoly.
   plural, plural-only
5. The four largest banks in any of various countries, or (internationally) the Federal Reserve, People's Bank of China, Bank of Japan, and European Central Bank.
   plural, plural-only
6. The four largest corporations of Big Tech during the 2000s–2020s, usually defined as Alphabet (f.k.a. Google), Meta (f.k.a. Facebook), Amazon, and Apple.
   plural, plural-only
7. The four largest global auditing firms, comprising Deloitte, Ernst & Young (EY), KPMG, and PwC.
   plural, plural-only
8. The four largest railway companies in the United Kingdom in the period 1923–1947: the Great Western Railway (GWR); the London, Midland and Scottish Railway (LMS); the London and North Eastern Railway (LNER); and the Southern Railway (SR).
   UK, historical, plural, plural-only
9. The clothing trade shows (“fashion weeks”) in Paris, London, New York, and Milan.
   plural, plural-only

Examples

“Banks have been reporting their results in recent days, with HSBC the latest to reveal higher profits. It is one of the so-called big four, which also includes Barclays, Lloyds and NatWest. ¶ In response. Harriett Baldwin, who chairs the Treasury Committee, said: "The big four banks have been far too slow to reward savers through better rates on instant access savings accounts."”

“That earned him a professional license he would need if he wanted to rise to the role of US senior partner at PwC, where he leads the Big Four firm's global advisory business and is co-head of its US consulting practice.”

“In several respects, the conditions which prevailed when this great venture was begun differed greatly from those in which the "Big Four" companies had embarked upon their previous regime in 1923.”

CEFR level