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SMALL
Pronunciation (US): | (GB): |
I. (noun)
Sense 1
Meaning:
A garment size for a small person
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:
Classified under:
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)
Sense 1
Meaning:
Made to seem smaller or less (especially in worth)
Example:
her comments made me feel small
Synonyms:
Classified under:
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 extent
Example:
a little (or small) group
Synonyms:
little; small
Classified under:
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 small
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:
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:
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 amount
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 scope
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, immature
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 particles
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 quality
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:
Example:
think small
Classified under:
Antonym:
big (on a grand scale)
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)