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Diminutive vs Puny - What's the difference?

diminutive | puny | Related terms |

As adjectives the difference between diminutive and puny

is that diminutive is very small while puny is of inferior size, strength or significance.

As nouns the difference between diminutive and puny

is that diminutive is a word form expressing smallness, youth, unimportance, or endearment while puny is a new pupil at a school etc.; a junior student.

diminutive

English

Alternative forms

*

Adjective

(en adjective)
  • Very small.
  • * {{quote-news
  • , year=2011 , date=October 20 , author=Jamie Lillywhite , title=Tottenham 1 - 0 Rubin Kazan , work=BBC Sport citation , page= , passage=Roman Sharonov rose unchallenged to head a corner wide, while diminutive winger Gokdeniz Karadeniz ghosted in with a diving header from the edge of the six-yard box that was acrobatically kept out by Gomes.}}
  • Serving to diminish.
  • * Shaftesbury
  • diminutive of liberty
  • (grammar) Of or pertaining to, or creating a word form expressing smallness, youth, unimportance, or endearment.
  • Synonyms

    * (very small) lilliputian, tiny

    Antonyms

    * (very small) huge, gigantic * augmentative

    Noun

    (wikipedia diminutive) (en noun)
  • (grammar) A word form expressing smallness, youth, unimportance, or endearment.
  • Booklet, the diminutive of book, means ‘small book’ .

    Synonyms

    * nomen deminutivum

    Antonyms

    * augmentative

    puny

    English

    Noun

    (punies)
  • (obsolete) A new pupil at a school etc.; a junior student.
  • (obsolete) A younger person.
  • *, II.12:
  • a law that the eldest or first borne child shall succeed and inherit all: where nothing at all is reserved for Punies , but obedience.
  • (obsolete) A beginner, a novice.
  • (Fuller)
  • (archaic) An inferior person; a subordinate.
  • Adjective

    (er)
  • Of inferior size, strength or significance.
  • * Shakespeare
  • A puny subject strikes at thy great glory.
  • * Keble
  • Breezes laugh to scorn our puny speed.

    Synonyms

    * See also

    See also

    * punny – relating to a pun ----