"the bigger they are, the harder they fall" meaning in English

See the bigger they are, the harder they fall in All languages combined, or Wiktionary

Proverb

Head templates: {{head|en|proverb}} the bigger they are, the harder they fall
  1. The larger or the higher of a rank something is, the more disastrous and spectacular its downfall. Synonyms: the bigger they come, the harder they fall Related terms: how the mighty have fallen, pride comes before a fall, the highest branch is not the safest roost, uneasy lies the head that wears a crown Translations (proverb): hoge bomen vangen veel wind (Dutch), ryskyen kaatuvat suuret puut (Finnish), wer hoch steigt, fällt tief (German), wer hoch fliegt, fällt tief (German), wer viel hat, kann viel verlieren (German), ឈើធំរលំឮខ្លាំង (cʰəə tʰom rɔlum lɨɨ klaŋ) (Khmer), quanto maior a altura, maior a queda (Portuguese), чем бо́льше шкаф, тем гро́мче он па́дает (čem bólʹše škaf, tem grómče on pádajet) (english: the bigger is a cupboard, the louder it falls) (Russian), kdor visoko leta, nizko pade (Slovene), más dura será la caída (Spanish)
    Sense id: en-the_bigger_they_are,_the_harder_they_fall-en-proverb-aBJiMJD1 Categories (other): English proverbs, Khmer terms with redundant script codes

Download JSON data for the bigger they are, the harder they fall meaning in English (2.2kB)

{
  "head_templates": [
    {
      "args": {
        "1": "en",
        "2": "proverb"
      },
      "expansion": "the bigger they are, the harder they fall",
      "name": "head"
    }
  ],
  "lang": "English",
  "lang_code": "en",
  "pos": "proverb",
  "senses": [
    {
      "categories": [
        {
          "kind": "other",
          "name": "English proverbs",
          "parents": [],
          "source": "w"
        },
        {
          "kind": "other",
          "name": "Khmer terms with redundant script codes",
          "parents": [
            "Terms with redundant script codes",
            "Entry maintenance"
          ],
          "source": "w"
        }
      ],
      "glosses": [
        "The larger or the higher of a rank something is, the more disastrous and spectacular its downfall."
      ],
      "id": "en-the_bigger_they_are,_the_harder_they_fall-en-proverb-aBJiMJD1",
      "links": [
        [
          "disastrous",
          "disastrous"
        ],
        [
          "spectacular",
          "spectacular"
        ],
        [
          "downfall",
          "downfall"
        ]
      ],
      "related": [
        {
          "word": "how the mighty have fallen"
        },
        {
          "word": "pride comes before a fall"
        },
        {
          "word": "the highest branch is not the safest roost"
        },
        {
          "word": "uneasy lies the head that wears a crown"
        }
      ],
      "synonyms": [
        {
          "word": "the bigger they come"
        },
        {
          "word": "the harder they fall"
        }
      ],
      "translations": [
        {
          "code": "nl",
          "lang": "Dutch",
          "sense": "proverb",
          "word": "hoge bomen vangen veel wind"
        },
        {
          "code": "fi",
          "lang": "Finnish",
          "sense": "proverb",
          "word": "ryskyen kaatuvat suuret puut"
        },
        {
          "code": "de",
          "lang": "German",
          "sense": "proverb",
          "word": "wer hoch steigt, fällt tief"
        },
        {
          "code": "de",
          "lang": "German",
          "sense": "proverb",
          "word": "wer hoch fliegt, fällt tief"
        },
        {
          "code": "de",
          "lang": "German",
          "sense": "proverb",
          "word": "wer viel hat, kann viel verlieren"
        },
        {
          "code": "km",
          "lang": "Khmer",
          "roman": "cʰəə tʰom rɔlum lɨɨ klaŋ",
          "sense": "proverb",
          "word": "ឈើធំរលំឮខ្លាំង"
        },
        {
          "code": "pt",
          "lang": "Portuguese",
          "sense": "proverb",
          "word": "quanto maior a altura, maior a queda"
        },
        {
          "code": "ru",
          "english": "the bigger is a cupboard, the louder it falls",
          "lang": "Russian",
          "roman": "čem bólʹše škaf, tem grómče on pádajet",
          "sense": "proverb",
          "word": "чем бо́льше шкаф, тем гро́мче он па́дает"
        },
        {
          "code": "sl",
          "lang": "Slovene",
          "sense": "proverb",
          "word": "kdor visoko leta, nizko pade"
        },
        {
          "code": "es",
          "lang": "Spanish",
          "sense": "proverb",
          "word": "más dura será la caída"
        }
      ]
    }
  ],
  "word": "the bigger they are, the harder they fall"
}
{
  "head_templates": [
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      "args": {
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      },
      "expansion": "the bigger they are, the harder they fall",
      "name": "head"
    }
  ],
  "lang": "English",
  "lang_code": "en",
  "pos": "proverb",
  "related": [
    {
      "word": "how the mighty have fallen"
    },
    {
      "word": "pride comes before a fall"
    },
    {
      "word": "the highest branch is not the safest roost"
    },
    {
      "word": "uneasy lies the head that wears a crown"
    }
  ],
  "senses": [
    {
      "categories": [
        "English lemmas",
        "English multiword terms",
        "English proverbs",
        "Khmer terms with redundant script codes"
      ],
      "glosses": [
        "The larger or the higher of a rank something is, the more disastrous and spectacular its downfall."
      ],
      "links": [
        [
          "disastrous",
          "disastrous"
        ],
        [
          "spectacular",
          "spectacular"
        ],
        [
          "downfall",
          "downfall"
        ]
      ]
    }
  ],
  "synonyms": [
    {
      "word": "the bigger they come"
    },
    {
      "word": "the harder they fall"
    }
  ],
  "translations": [
    {
      "code": "nl",
      "lang": "Dutch",
      "sense": "proverb",
      "word": "hoge bomen vangen veel wind"
    },
    {
      "code": "fi",
      "lang": "Finnish",
      "sense": "proverb",
      "word": "ryskyen kaatuvat suuret puut"
    },
    {
      "code": "de",
      "lang": "German",
      "sense": "proverb",
      "word": "wer hoch steigt, fällt tief"
    },
    {
      "code": "de",
      "lang": "German",
      "sense": "proverb",
      "word": "wer hoch fliegt, fällt tief"
    },
    {
      "code": "de",
      "lang": "German",
      "sense": "proverb",
      "word": "wer viel hat, kann viel verlieren"
    },
    {
      "code": "km",
      "lang": "Khmer",
      "roman": "cʰəə tʰom rɔlum lɨɨ klaŋ",
      "sense": "proverb",
      "word": "ឈើធំរលំឮខ្លាំង"
    },
    {
      "code": "pt",
      "lang": "Portuguese",
      "sense": "proverb",
      "word": "quanto maior a altura, maior a queda"
    },
    {
      "code": "ru",
      "english": "the bigger is a cupboard, the louder it falls",
      "lang": "Russian",
      "roman": "čem bólʹše škaf, tem grómče on pádajet",
      "sense": "proverb",
      "word": "чем бо́льше шкаф, тем гро́мче он па́дает"
    },
    {
      "code": "sl",
      "lang": "Slovene",
      "sense": "proverb",
      "word": "kdor visoko leta, nizko pade"
    },
    {
      "code": "es",
      "lang": "Spanish",
      "sense": "proverb",
      "word": "más dura será la caída"
    }
  ],
  "word": "the bigger they are, the harder they fall"
}

This page is a part of the kaikki.org machine-readable English dictionary. This dictionary is based on structured data extracted on 2024-03-12 from the enwiktionary dump dated 2024-03-01 using wiktextract (68773ab and 5f6ddbb). The data shown on this site has been post-processed and various details (e.g., extra categories) removed, some information disambiguated, and additional data merged from other sources. See the raw data download page for the unprocessed wiktextract data.

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