Adjective

(en adjective)

Of or relating to comparison.

* Granvill

The comparative faculty.

Using comparison as a method of study, or founded on something using it.

comparative anatomy

Approximated by comparison; relative.

* Whewell

The recurrence of comparative warmth and cold.

* Bentley

The bubble, by reason of its comparative levity to the fluid that encloses it, would necessarily ascend to the top.

(obsolete) Comparable; bearing comparison.

* 1819 , Lord Byron, Don Juan , II.137:

And need he had of slumber yet, for none / Had suffered more—his hardships were comparative / To those related in my grand-dad's Narrative .

Adjective

(er)

Not large or big; insignificant; few in numbers or size.

* , chapter=5

, title= The Mirror and the Lamp , passage=Here, in the transept and choir, where the service was being held, one was conscious every moment of an increasing brightness; colours glowing vividly beneath the circular chandeliers, and the rows of small lights on the choristers' desks flashed and sparkled in front of the boys' faces, deep linen collars, and red neckbands.}}

* {{quote-magazine, date=2013-06-22, volume=407, issue=8841, page=70, magazine=(The Economist)

, title= Engineers of a different kind , passage=Private-equity nabobs bristle at being dubbed mere financiers. Piling debt onto companies’ balance-sheets is only a small part of what leveraged buy-outs are about, they insist. Improving the workings of the businesses they take over is just as core to their calling, if not more so. Much of their pleading is public-relations bluster.}}

(figuratively) Young, as a child.

(writing, incomparable) Minuscule or lowercase, referring to written letters.

Envincing little worth or ability; not large-minded; paltry; mean.

* Carlyle

A true delineation of the smallest man is capable of interesting the greatest man.

Not prolonged in duration; not extended in time; short.

a small space of time