Library / English Dictionary

    SMALL

    Pronunciation (US): Play  (GB): Play

     I. (noun) 

    Sense 1

    Meaning:

    A garment size for a small personplay

    Classified under:

    Nouns denoting attributes of people and objects

    Hypernyms ("small" is a kind of...):

    size (the property resulting from being one of a series of graduated measurements (as of clothing))

    Sense 2

    Meaning:

    The slender part of the backplay

    Classified under:

    Nouns denoting body parts

    Hypernyms ("small" is a kind of...):

    body part (any part of an organism such as an organ or extremity)

    Holonyms ("small" is a part of...):

    back; dorsum (the posterior part of a human (or animal) body from the neck to the end of the spine)

     II. (adjective) 

    Comparative and superlative

    Comparative: smaller  Listen to US pronunciation  Listen to GB pronunciation

    Superlative: smallest  Listen to US pronunciation  Listen to GB pronunciation

    Sense 1

    Meaning:

    Made to seem smaller or less (especially in worth)play

    Example:

    her comments made me feel small

    Synonyms:

    belittled; diminished; small

    Classified under:

    Adjectives

    Similar:

    decreased; reduced (made less in size or amount or degree)

    Sense 2

    Meaning:

    Limited or below average in number or quantity or magnitude or extentplay

    Example:

    a little (or small) group

    Synonyms:

    little; small

    Classified under:

    Adjectives

    Similar:

    undersize; undersized (smaller than normal for its kind)

    small-scale (created or drawn on a small scale)

    smallish (rather small)

    littler; smaller (small or little relative to something else)

    slender; slim (small in quantity)

    puny; runty; shrimpy ((used especially of persons) of inferior size)

    pocket-size; pocket-sized; pocketable (small enough to be carried in a garment pocket)

    olive-sized (about the size of an olive)

    miniscule; minuscule (extremely small)

    miniature (being on a very small scale)

    micro (extremely small in scale or scope or capability)

    microscopic; microscopical (so small as to be invisible without a microscope)

    atomic (immeasurably small)

    subatomic (of smaller than atomic dimensions)

    bantam; diminutive; flyspeck; lilliputian; midget; petite; tiny (very small)

    bittie; bitty; itsy-bitsy; itty-bitty; teensy; teensy-weensy; teentsy; teeny; teeny-weeny; wee; weensy; weeny ((used informally) very small)

    dinky; insignificant (small and unimpressive)

    dwarfish (atypically small)

    elfin; elflike (small and delicate)

    gnomish (used of small deformed creatures)

    half-size (half the usual or regular size)

    infinitesimal; minute (infinitely or immeasurably small)

    lesser (smaller in size or amount or value)

    Attribute:

    size (the physical magnitude of something (how big it is))

    Antonym:

    large (above average in size or number or quantity or magnitude or extent)

    Derivation:

    smallness (the property of having a relatively small size)

    smallness (the property of being a relatively small amount)

    Sense 3

    Meaning:

    Relatively moderate, limited, or smallplay

    Example:

    a pocket-size country

    Synonyms:

    minor; modest; pocket-size; pocket-sized; small; small-scale

    Classified under:

    Adjectives

    Similar:

    limited (small in range or scope)

    Derivation:

    smallness (the property of having a relatively small size)

    Sense 4

    Meaning:

    (of a voice) faintplay

    Example:

    a still small voice

    Synonyms:

    little; small

    Classified under:

    Adjectives

    Similar:

    soft ((of sound) relatively low in volume)

    Derivation:

    smallness (the property of having relatively little strength or vigor)

    Sense 5

    Meaning:

    Lowercaseplay

    Example:

    e.e.cummings's poetry is written all in minuscule letters

    Synonyms:

    little; minuscule; small

    Classified under:

    Adjectives

    Similar:

    lowercase (relating to small (not capitalized) letters that were kept in the lower half of a compositor's type case)

    Sense 6

    Meaning:

    Not large but sufficient in size or amountplay

    Example:

    helped in my own small way

    Synonyms:

    modest; small

    Classified under:

    Adjectives

    Similar:

    moderate (being within reasonable or average limits; not excessive or extreme)

    Derivation:

    smallness (the property of being a relatively small amount)

    Sense 7

    Meaning:

    Slight or limited; especially in degree or intensity or scopeplay

    Example:

    a series of death struggles with small time in between

    Classified under:

    Adjectives

    Similar:

    little; slight ((quantifier used with mass nouns) small in quantity or degree; not much or almost none or (with 'a') at least some)

    Domain usage:

    archaicism; archaism (the use of an archaic expression)

    Sense 8

    Meaning:

    (of children and animals) young, immatureplay

    Example:

    small children

    Synonyms:

    little; small

    Classified under:

    Adjectives

    Similar:

    immature; young ((used of living things especially persons) in an early period of life or development or growth)

    Sense 9

    Meaning:

    Have fine or very small constituent particlesplay

    Example:

    a small misty rain

    Classified under:

    Adjectives

    Similar:

    fine (of textures that are smooth to the touch or substances consisting of relatively small particles)

    Sense 10

    Meaning:

    Low or inferior in station or qualityplay

    Example:

    small beginnings

    Synonyms:

    humble; low; lowly; modest; small

    Classified under:

    Adjectives

    Similar:

    inferior (of or characteristic of low rank or importance)

     III. (adverb) 

    Sense 1

    Meaning:

    On a small scaleplay

    Example:

    think small

    Classified under:

    Adverbs

    Antonym:

    big (on a grand scale)

    Credits

     Context examples: 

    It was a small live thing, and he had no fear.

    (White Fang, by Jack London)

    Our circle will be small but bound close by the ties of affection and mutual misfortune.

    (Frankenstein, by Mary Wollstonecraft Shelley)

    While you were in the smallest degree wavering, I said nothing about it, because I would not influence; but it would have been the loss of a friend to me.

    (Emma, by Jane Austen)

    The spread of cancer to the small intestine.

    (Metastatic Malignant Neoplasm to the Small Intestine, NCI Thesaurus)

    A small amount of a substance called radioactive metaiodobenzylguanidine is injected into a vein and travels through the bloodstream.

    (Metaiodobenzylguanidine scan, NCI Dictionary)

    My father had a small estate in Nottinghamshire: I was the third of five sons.

    (Gulliver's Travels into several remote nations of the world, by Jonathan Swift)

    In itself, this small sum seemed a fortune.

    (Martin Eden, by Jack London)

    It shall be a regular party, small, but most elegant.

    (Persuasion, by Jane Austen)

    You—poor and obscure, and small and plain as you are—I entreat to accept me as a husband.

    (Jane Eyre, by Charlotte Brontë)

    He took a small piece of torn paper from a note-book and spread it out upon his knee.

    (The Memoirs of Sherlock Holmes, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)


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