大間違い vs. 大違い

[omoide]

Hello,

is there really a difference in magnitude between 大間違い (“big mistake”) and 大違い (“major mistake”) ?

thanks

[Leebo]

大違い is literally just “a big difference” so it doesn’t have to mean a mistake, though of course it could (assuming there’s some comparison between two things, like a goal and the actual result).

[omoide]

Thanks, Leebo. So do you think that 大違い is less depreciative than the other?

[Leebo]

Well, I mean it just depends on context. If you call someone’s guess on a quiz 大違い then it sounds like they said something really stupid. Neither one would sound nice.

It’s just that 大違い can apply to other things as well.

In the dictionary, there’s the example sentence 聞くと見るとでは大違い “There’s a big difference between what you hear and what you see.” It’s something that might be said if you were visiting some place that you heard was amazing, but then it let you down.