by and large
In real, traceable use. Part of the curated seed collection; community review is coming.
Where it’s used:
Used
Widespread English
Examples
In the case of the first question the verb is thematicized; in the second it is rhematic and is substituted for by a categorical verb, i.e. to do.
The great change that has occurred is that retailers no longer go out into the market place and buy what is offered to them by manufacturers.
British National Corpus sentence via the MAGPIE corpus (CC BY 4.0, retrieved 2026-07-30)
Sources & notes
Listed on Wikipedia “Irreversible binomial” (CC BY-SA 4.0, retrieved 2026-07-29). Figurative class: Metaphor (PIE-English corpus, CC BY 4.0, retrieved 2026-07-31).
Common questions
What does “by and large” mean?
On the whole.
Is “by and large” formal or informal?
No register label has been reviewed yet — treat it as neutral and check the usage notes above.