The propagation of large‐amplitude hydromagnetic waves of a collisionless anisotropic plasma is treated by using the Chew‐Goldberger‐Low equations. The generalization of the usual theory of characteristics as applied to this treatment has been developed. It is shown that in such a plasma there are six different types of waves. They incorporate all modes considered in a small‐amplitude theory. For a special case of a magnetic field almost parallel to the direction of propagation a fast magnetosonic wave has small density variations proportional to the variations of the square of a magnetic field intensity. A wave equation similar to one used in an isotropic plasma describes the behavior of nonplanar Alfvén waves. The simple relation obtained for the averaged large‐amplitude perturbations in the transverse Alfvén wave is identical to the equation derived on the basis of the WKB approximation.