small Hear it!

small Definition

small (smôl)

adjective

  1. little in size, esp. when compared with others of the same kind; not large or big; limited in size
    1. little in quantity, extent, numbers, value, duration, etc. a small income
    2. of slight intensity; of limited degree or scope
    3. consisting of relatively few units; numerically low
  3. of little importance or significance; trivial
  4. young a book for small children
  5. having relatively little investment, capital, etc. a small business
  6. small-minded; mean; petty
    1. of low or inferior rank; ordinary; not notable
    2. modest or humble
  8. gentle and low; soft: said of sound or the voice
  9. diluted; light; weak small ale
  10. lowercase

Etymology: ME smal, narrow, slender < OE smæl, akin to Ger schmal, narrow < IE base *(s)mēlo-, smaller animal: see mal-

adverb

  1. in small pieces
  2. in a low, faint tone; softly
  3. in a small manner

noun

  1. the small or narrow part the small of the back
  2. small things or articles collectively
  3. Brit., Informal
    1. Archaic smallclothes
    2. underclothes

small Related Forms
small′·ness noun
small Idioms

feel small

to feel shame or humiliation

small Synonyms

small

modif.

  1. Little in size

    little, minute, tiny, diminutive, miniature, petite; see also little 1.

  2. Little in quantity

    scanty, short, meager; see inadequate 1.

  3. Unimportant

    trivial, insignificant, unessential; see shallow 2, unimportant.

  4. Ignoble

    mean, petty, base; see mean 1.

  5. Humble

    modest, poor, pitiful; see humble 2.

small and little are often used interchangeably, but small is preferred with reference to something concrete of less than the usual quantity, size, amount, value, importance, etc. a small man, tax, audience, matter, etc. and little more often applies to absolute concepts he has his little faults, in expressing tenderness, indulgence, etc. the little dear, and in connoting insignificance, meanness, pettiness, etc. of little importance; diminutive implies extreme, sometimes delicate, smallness or littleness the diminutive Lilliputians; minute and the more informal tiny suggest that which is extremely diminutive, often to the degree that it can be discerned only by close scrutiny a minute, or tiny, difference; miniature applies to a copy, model, representation, etc. on a very small scale miniature model cars; petite has specific application to a girl or woman who is small and trim in figure

small Usage Examples

Adjective complement with noun phrase

  • keep: By default, the contents of only one data file is kept in memory, in order to keep the space small.

Modifies a noun

  • business: How to raise the profile of your small business Posted July 3, 2006 NB!
  • amount: The study will involve eating a small amount of tomato paste in olive oil on a daily basis.
  • number: During his short reign in 1936 only a relatively small number of pillar boxes were made - approx.
  • group: Most of them arrived in Italy by crossing the Adriatic Sea in small groups.
  • town: This growth was aided from 1836 by London's first railways which put small countryside towns within easy reach of the city.
  • village: Higher Walton A small village located in the west of the boro nestling in the attractive landscape of the valley of the River Darwen.

Modifying Another Word

  • relatively: The largest lowland raised bogs are relatively small on an all Ireland basis.
  • too: Or else pearls r too small to be seen over a distance.
  • very: Its syntax is very small, corresponding only to a very small subset of HTML tags.
  • comparatively: Although the numbers of pupils involved are comparatively small, the costs of their placements in independent schools are very high.

Infinitive complement

  • fit: A prototype temperature controller was produced, small enough to fit into the handle of the seaming iron.

Used with adjective complement

  • remain: During this time gear-driven shapers, drills and knee drills were also added but the number of lathes produced remained comparatively small.
  • look: The lines which are longest extend to a more remote limb than the others and therefore that limb looks smaller.
  • start: Starting small In the front yard of a government fisheries institution in Thailand, a lady sits selling fish seed.
  • feel: Liked the line ' Feeling small, inner enemies standing tall ' , droning chords driving the melody along.
  • get: The pupil gets smaller in bright conditions to let less light in and gets bigger in dark conditions to let more light in.
  • grow: Those confined to the tops of mountains or below impassable barriers may face extinction as their habitat grows smaller.

Preposition: in

  • size: They are green, yellow, brown or black in color, usually multiple and small in size.
  • scale: Both these eruptions were similar in many senses: small in scale, and occurring about ten years after the previous event.
Small Quotes

Here lies, bowl'd out by Death's unerring ball, A cricketer renowned, by name John Small; But though his name was small, yet great was his fame, For nobly did he play the'noble game'. His life was like his inningsölong and good; Full ninety summers had Death withstood, At length the ninetieth winter cameöwhen (Fate Not leaving him one solitary mate) This last of Hambledonians, old John Small, Gave up his bat and ballöhis leather, wax and all.

—Egan, Pierce

small Quotes

He prayeth well, who loveth well Both man and bird and beast. He prayeth best, who loveth best All things both great and small.

—Coleridge, Samuel Taylor

   What brought the kindred spider to that height, Then steered the white moth thither in the night? What but design of darkness to appall?ö If design govern in a thing so small.

—Frost, Robert Lee

If there is a distinctive Irish experience, it is one of division, exacerbated by the fact that division in a country so small seems perverse.But the scale doesn't matter.

—Donoghue, Denis

It was not the matter of the work, but the mind that went into, that countedöand the manwho was not content to do small things well would leave great things undone.

—Glasgow, Ellen Anderson Gholson

Ihaveno doubtthat it ispossibletogiveanewdirectionto technological development, a direction that shall lead it back to the real needs of man, and that also means: to the actual size of man. Man is small, and, therefore, small is beautiful. To go for giantism is to go for self-destruction.

—Schumacher, E(rnst) F(riedrich)

The Microbe is so very small You cannot make him out at all.

—Belloc, (Joseph) Hilaire Pierre

Small Is Beautiful: a Study of Economics as if People Mattered.

—Schumacher, E(rnst) F(riedrich)

Small is the worth Of beauty from the light retir'd; Bid her come forth, Suffer her self to be desir'd, And not blush to be admir'd.

—Waller, Edmund

Manya small thing has beenmade large by theright kind of advertising.

—Twain, Mark pseudonym of  Samuel Langhorne Clemens

Is it so small a thing To have enjoyed the sun, To have lived light in the spring, To have loved, to have thought, to have done.

—Arnold, Matthew

And, behold, the L passed by, and a great and strong wind rent the mountains, and brake in pieces the rocks before the L; but the L was not in the wind: and after thewind anearthquake; butthe L wasnot inthe earthquake: And after the earthquake a fire; but the L was not in the fire: and after the fire a still small voice.

—Bible (Old Testament)