writ large

English

WOTD – 19 February 2022

Etymology

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”; Milton was using the phrase in the sense “written more completely”.

Pronunciation

• (Received Pronunciation) IPA^(key): /ɹɪt ˈlɑːd͡ʒ/

• Audio (Southern England):

  (file)

• (General American) IPA^(key): /ɹɪt ˈlɑɹd͡ʒ/
• Rhymes: -ɑː(ɹ)dʒ

Adjective

writ large (comparative writ larger, superlative writ largest) (figuratively)

1. 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.

   • 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.

2. 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^[2], 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.

3. in general
   • 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^[3]:

     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.

Usage notes

The term is usually placed after the noun modified. For uses of “writ large” in a verb sense, see write.

Translations

on a large scale — see magnified

readily discerned, unmistakably indicated — see clear,‎ obvious