at large

A

at large (idiom / adverbial expression)
/æt lɑːrdʒ/

Meanings

• Not caught; free (used for criminals, dangerous animals, or fugitives).
• In general; as a whole; broadly.
• Representing an entire group or population, not just a section.
• Acting freely without restriction.

Synonyms: free; uncaptured; broadly; generally; representative.

Example Sentences

1. The thief is still at large, and police are searching the city.
2. This decision will affect the public at large, not just the students.
3. She was elected as a senator at large, representing the whole state.
4. After retiring, he lived at large, traveling and writing as he pleased.

Origin and History

Competing Theories of Origin

Scholars put forward several explanations for the rise of the phrase “at large” in English. One account views it as a borrowing from Romance expressions that carried meanings like “at liberty” or “offshore,” adopted into English to describe being free or unrestrained.

Another theory argues that it grew naturally from the English use of the adjective “large” (derived from Old French and Latin) with senses such as “broad, free, generous.” In this view, the phrase “at large” originally meant “in a state of largeness” — that is, liberty or freedom — before expanding to cover broader figurative uses.

A third view emphasizes a stepwise semantic path: first “at liberty,” then “in full” or “at length,” and later “in general” or “representing the whole,” particularly in politics and administration.

Old French Roots

The word “large” in Old French and Latin bore meanings of “broad, ample, generous, free.” Expressions from Old French using “large” influenced Middle English usage, with the phrase “at large” conveying both a literal spatial sense (“offshore, apart”) and a figurative one (“free, unrestrained”). This explains why early English texts often use “large” to mean “free,” laying the groundwork for the idiomatic form.

Middle English Evidence

In Middle English manuscripts, “at large” already appears with the sense of “at liberty” or “unrestrained.” during fourteenth-century. The phrase was firmly established in English literary usage by the late medieval period. Circulating widely in manuscripts, it demonstrates the phrase’s deep roots in English well before printing.

Expansion in Early Modern English

By the Early Modern period, authors extended “at large” into senses beyond literal freedom, allowing it to mean “in full” or “in general.” A particularly striking use appears in John Milton’s epic poem ‘Paradise Lost,’ first published in 1667 and expanded into twelve books in the 1674 edition. In Book 8 Milton writes:

“That, not to know at large of things remote / From use, obscure and subtle; but, to know / That which before us lies in daily life, / Is the prime Wisdom; what is more, is fume, / Or emptiness, or fond impertinence; / And renders us … still to seek.”

Here “not to know at large of things remote” suggests not to concern oneself fully with distant or abstract matters, but instead to know what lies before us in daily life. This usage shows “at large” functioning in the sense of “in full measure” or “about extensively” (in relation to distant things). The poetic authority of Milton, a central figure of seventeenth-century literature, gives strong weight to the interpretive expansion of “at large” beyond “at liberty.” Over the seventeenth century, this broadened use coexisted with older senses, helping cement the idiom’s modern semantic range.

Political and Institutional Usage

A new specialized sense of “at large” emerged in the eighteenth century. In electoral and administrative contexts, it came to mean “representing the entire body rather than a subdivision.” Modern usage often hyphenates the form as “at-large”, as in “a senator at-large.” This extension developed naturally from the general sense “with respect to the whole.” Official records and legislative texts from this period show the phrase firmly embedded in political language.

First Printed Record

The earliest surviving printed evidence of “at large” appears in fifteenth-century English editions of major poetic works. In one preserved line, we read:

“But it is good a man to ben at large.”

Here the meaning is clearly “to be free or at liberty.” These editions, produced around 1477–1480, demonstrate the idiom’s transition from manuscript tradition to print culture. While exact day and month are not preserved in colophons, the late fifteenth-century press firmly anchors the phrase in early printed English.

Origin Summary

The history of “at large” illustrates a natural evolution: from Old French roots of “large” meaning “free, generous, ample,” to Middle English usage with the sense “at liberty,” through Early Modern expansion into “in detail” and “in general,” and finally to eighteenth-century specialization in politics and administration. This journey shows how a simple phrase moved across languages, entered literary tradition, broadened in sense, and became a fixed part of English idiom.

Variants

• remain at large
• still at large
• the public at large
• members at large
• editor at large

Important