by and large

1. 1.

   usually; as a rule

   “by and large it doesn't rain much here”

   Synonymsgenerallymore often than notmostly

Questions about by and large

What does by and large mean?

by and large means "usually; as a rule".

What is another word for by and large?

Close synonyms include generally, more often than not, mostly. Each sense on this page lists its own synonyms, because a word with several meanings rarely has one substitute that works for all of them.

Is by and large a common word?

by and large is banded "Rare" — specialist or archaic — most readers will not have met it. The band comes from how often the word appears in a large corpus of everyday English, not from an editor's impression.