larger than life

20. PHRASE : v-link PHR, PHR n

If you say that someone or something is larger than life, you mean that they appear or behave in a way that seems more exaggerated or important than usual.

• not that we should expect all good publishers to be larger than life.
• Throughout his career he's always been a larger than life character.

... Cobuild

Very impressive or imposing:

• "This is a person of surpassing integrity; a man of the utmost sincerity; somewhat larger than life" (Joyce Carol Oates).

Fig. [of someone] having an aura of greatness, perhaps not supported by the real person.

• Perry seemed larger than life to those who had only read about him.
• To the rest of us, he was a boor. To the children, the star athlete who spoke at the school assembly seemed larger than life.

larger than life (also bigger than life):

more interesting and more exciting than an ordinary person or thing

• He may not live like a rock star, but in the eyes of his fans he's larger than life.
• You have to be bigger than life to make it in Times Square, and this restaurant wasn't.

... ... Am-Heritage/McGrow-Hill/Cambridge, www.thefreedictionary.com