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Small vs Exiguous - What's the difference?

small | exiguous | Related terms |

As adjectives the difference between small and exiguous

is that small is not large or big; insignificant; few in numbers or size while exiguous is scanty; meager.

As an adverb small

is in a small fashion.

As a noun small

is any part of something that is smaller or slimmer than the rest, now usually with anatomical reference to the back.

As a verb small

is to make little or less.

As a proper noun Small

is {{surname}.

small

English

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

    Synonyms

    * (not large or big) little, microscopic, minuscule, minute, tiny; see also * little, wee (Scottish), young * (of written letters) lowercase, minuscule

    Antonyms

    * See also * (not large or big) capital, big, generous (said of an amount of something given), large * adult, grown-up, old * (of written letters) big, capital, majuscule, uppercase

    Derived terms

    * small arm * small arms * small beer * small calorie * small-cell lung cancer * small change * small claims court * smallclothes * smaller European elm bark beetle * small forward * small fry * smallgoods * smallholder * smallholding * small hours * small intestine * smallish * small-minded * smallmouth * smallmouth bass * smallmouth black bass * smallness * small potatoes * smallpox * smalls * small-scale * small screen * small stuff * smallsword * small talk * small-time * * small wonder * twice as small * twice as small as

    Adverb

    (er)
  • In a small fashion.
  • * (William Shakespeare), (w, A Midsummer Night's Dream) , Act I, scene 2, line 49:
    • That's all one: you shall play it in a mask, and / you may speak as small as you will.
  • In or into small pieces.
  • * 2009 , Ingrid Hoffman, CBS Early Morning for September 28, 2009 (transcription)
    • That's going to go in there. We've got some chives small chopped as well.
  • (obsolete) To a small extent.
  • * (rfdate) (William Shakespeare), Sonnets , "Lucrece", line 1273
    • It small avails my mood.

    Derived terms

    * writ small

    Noun

    (en noun)
  • Any part of something that is smaller or slimmer than the rest, now usually with anatomical reference to the back.
  • (UK, in the plural) Underclothes.

    • Derived terms

    * small of the back

    Verb

    (en verb)
  • (obsolete) To make little or less.
  • To become small; to dwindle.
  • * Thomas Hardy
    • And smalled till she was nought at all.

    Statistics

    *

    Anagrams

    * malls 100 English basic words 1000 English basic words ----

    exiguous

    English

    Adjective

    (en adjective)
  • scanty; meager
  • * 1889 — ch XIII
    • The herdboy in the broom, already musical in the days of Father Chaucer, startles (and perhaps pains) the lark with this exiguous pipe.
  • * 1912 — ch VII
    • The path on which I then planted my feet was quite unprecedentedly narrow. I had never had to walk along a thoroughfare so exiguous .
  • * 1998 — Michael Ignatieff, Rebirth of a Nation: An Anatomy of Russia . New Statesman, Feb 6.
    • They are entering the market, setting up stalls on snowy streets, moonlighting to supplement exiguous incomes.
  • * 2001 — Terence Brown, The Life of W. B. Yeats: A Critical Biography .
    • Among the pressures provoking these distresses were a father's financial inadequacy and a growing awareness that, by finding employment himself, he could ameliorate the family's exiguous circumstances.
  • * 2012 — Rodger Cohen, Scottexalonia Rising, New York Times, Nov. 26., Op. Ed.
    • National politics, as President François Hollande of France is only the latest to discover, is often no more than tweaking at the margins in the exiguous political space left by markets and other global forces.

    Derived terms

    * exiguity * exiguously * exiguousness