big tent

English

Etymology

From big (adjective) +‎ tent, originally referring to a large tent set up to hold a public event attended by many people such as a circus or a religious meeting.

Pronunciation

• (Received Pronunciation, General American) IPA^(key): /ˌbɪɡ ˈtɛnt/

• Audio (Southern England)

  (file)

• Rhymes: -ɛnt

Noun

big tent (plural big tents)

1. (idiomatic, also attributive) A group, philosophy, or social or political movement that encompasses or seeks to attract a broad range of constituents or members, or views.

   Synonyms: (chiefly Australia, Britain, New Zealand) broad church, catch-all

   • 1930 October, Eugene Garret Bewkes, “Humanism and Ethics”, in James H[ayden] Tufts, editor, The International Journal of Ethics: A Quarterly Devoted to the Advancement of Ethical Knowledge and Practice, volume XLI, number 1, Chicago, Ill.: University of Chicago Press, →ISSN, →JSTOR, →OCLC, pages 14–15:

     Humanism is an expansive trisyllable, a veritable "big-tent" of a word, sheltering many varieties of performance under its spreading canvas.

   • 1964 September 9, “Goldwater endorsed in Mississippi”, in Graham M. Dean, editor, Porterville Evening Recorder, number 395, Porterville, Calif.: Graham M. Dean, →OCLC, page 1:

     The Democratic governor of Mississippi, Paul Johnson, has endorsed Republican presidential nominee Barry Goldwater. […] He said he is confident that the majority of Mississippians "Have no desire to get under Lyndon Johnson's big tent and to share the company already assembled there."

   • 1995 July 10, Elizabeth Gleick , “Sobering Times for A.A.”, in Time‎, New York, N.Y.: Time Inc., →ISSN, →OCLC, archived from the original on 2010-10-08:

     The newcomers often bring an array of ancillary problems to meetings, including emotional trauma and addiction to other drugs. As the organization metamorphoses, its supporters wonder whether A.A. [Alcoholics Anonymous] can or should be such a big tent.

   • 1996 September 8, “Why Cowboys Became Kings”, in Newsweek‎, New York, N.Y.: Newsweek, Inc., →ISSN, →OCLC, archived from the original on 2024-02-26:

     They are not a slice of Americana, as we usually say, but rather, a broad brush of it. While most of our successful sports franchises display some distinct personality, only the [Dallas] Cowboys offer the big tent.

   • 2008 December 6, Caitlin Flanagan, Benjamin Schwarz, “Showdown in the big tent”, in The New York Times‎, New York, N.Y.: The New York Times Company, →ISSN, →OCLC, archived from the original on 2022-11-26:

     And here in essence is the problem with the Democrats' big tent, as well as the grounds for a wholly new kind of culture war that is probably going to make us long for the clear lines and simple enmities of the old one.

   • 2018 July 4, Megan Garber, “Is #MeToo Too Big?”, in The Atlantic‎, Washington, D.C.: The Atlantic Monthly Group, →ISSN, →OCLC, archived from the original on 2023-11-25:

     #MeToo, that vast and disembodied and ongoing protest march, has been subject to similar dynamics: the big tent, flinging its flaps ever wider; the entropic impulse as both a matter of promise and a matter of peril.

   • 2023 July 24, Jason Horowitz, “What the collapse of Spain’s far right means going forward”, in The New York Times‎, New York, N.Y.: The New York Times Company, →ISSN, →OCLC, archived from the original on 2023-11-08:

     Vox was established a decade ago when its leader, Santiago Abascal, split from the Popular Party, long a big center-right tent that included monarchists, libertarian supporters of same-sex marriage, ultraconservative Catholics and Spaniards who detested the independence movements of the north.

Alternative forms

• big-tent (attributive)

Translations

See also

• catholic (adjective)
• ecumenism

References

Further reading

• big tent on Wikipedia.Wikipedia

Anagrams

• betting