'big-government-oriented' originates from Modern English, specifically a compound of the adjective 'big', the noun 'government', and the adjective-forming element 'oriented' (from 'orient' + '-ed').

'big government' as a political phrase became common in the 19th–20th century to describe support for an expanded role for the state; 'orient' as a verb/participle comes into English via French/Latin forms and the suffix '-ed' made it adjectival, producing compounds like 'X-oriented'. Together they formed the compound 'big-government-oriented' in recent political discourse.

Initially, the component words meant 'large' ('big'), 'the governing body' ('government'), and 'directed toward' ('oriented'); over time the combined phrase came to specifically mean 'favoring a large, interventionist government'.