By and large
Example: By and large, the weather was nice during our trip.
Definition
"By and large" is an idiomatic expression used to mean generally or on the whole, indicating that something is true in most cases or overall. For example, "By and large, the weather was nice during our trip" suggests the weather was mostly pleasant.
Etymology
The phrase "by and large" originated in nautical terminology during the 17th century. 'By' referred to sailing close to the wind, and 'large' meant sailing with the wind behind. Together, they implied handling a ship well in all conditions, which evolved into the general meaning of 'on the whole' or 'generally'.
Learn to use this expression actively
"By and large" appears in the Vocaplus list "English - General - Idioms and Proverbs - (C1) - set 1", containing 130 commonly used expressions.
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