What is the difference between small and low?
small | low | Synonyms |
Not large or big; insignificant; few in numbers or size.
* , chapter=5
, title= * {{quote-magazine, date=2013-06-22, volume=407, issue=8841, page=70, magazine=(The Economist)
, title= (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
Not prolonged in duration; not extended in time; short.
In a small fashion.
* (William Shakespeare), (w, A Midsummer Night's Dream) , Act I, scene 2, line 49:
In or into small pieces.
* 2009 , Ingrid Hoffman, CBS Early Morning for September 28, 2009 (transcription)
(obsolete) To a small extent.
* (rfdate) (William Shakespeare), Sonnets , "Lucrece", line 1273
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.
(obsolete) To make little or less.
To become small; to dwindle.
* Thomas Hardy
In a position comparatively close to the ground.
Small in height.
Situated below the normal level, or the mean elevation.
Depressed, sad.
Not high in amount or quantity.
* {{quote-magazine, date=2013-06-22, volume=407, issue=8841, page=68, magazine=(The Economist)
, title= Of a pitch, suggesting a lower frequency.
Quiet; soft; not loud.
Despicable; lacking dignity; vulgar.
Lacking health or vitality; feeble; weak.
Being near the equator.
Humble in character or status.
* Milton
* Felton
Simple in complexity or development.
Designed for the slowest speed, as in low gear .
Articulated with a wide space between the flat tongue and the palette.
(phonetics) Made, as a vowel, with a low position of part of the tongue in relation to the palate.
(archaic) Not rich, highly seasoned, or nourishing; plain; simple.
Something that is low; a low point.
A depressed mood or situation.
(meteorology) An area of low pressure; a depression.
The lowest-speed gearing of a power-transmission system, especially of an automotive vehicle.
(card games) The lowest trump, usually the deuce; the lowest trump dealt or drawn.
(slang) (usually accompanied by "the") a cheap, cost-efficient, or advantageous payment or expense.
Close to the ground.
Of a pitch, at a lower frequency.
* Shakespeare
With a low voice or sound; not loudly; gently.
* Tennyson
Under the usual price; at a moderate price; cheaply.
In a low mean condition; humbly; meanly.
* '>citation
In a time approaching our own.
* John Locke
(astronomy) In a path near the equator, so that the declination is small, or near the horizon, so that the altitude is small; said of the heavenly bodies with reference to the diurnal revolution.
.
, mound, tumulus.
(Scottish dialectal, archaic) A hill.
Low is a synonym of small.
In obsolete transitive terms the difference between small and low
is that small is to make little or less while low is to depress; to lower.In intransitive terms the difference between small and low
is that small is to become small; to dwindle while low is to moo.As a proper noun Small
is {{surname}.small
English
Adjective
(er)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.}}
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.}}
- A true delineation of the smallest man is capable of interesting the greatest man.
- 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, minusculeAntonyms
* 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, uppercaseDerived 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 asAdverb
(er)- That's all one: you shall play it in a mask, and / you may speak as small as you will.
- That's going to go in there. We've got some chives small chopped as well.
- It small avails my mood.
Derived terms
* writ smallNoun
(en noun)Derived terms
* small of the backVerb
(en verb)- And smalled till she was nought at all.
Statistics
*low
English
Etymology 1
From (etyl) lowe, lohe, . More at lie.Adjective
(er)- low spirits
- I felt low at Christmas with no family to celebrate with.
- Food prices are lower in a supermarket than in a luxury department store.
T time, passage=The ability to shift profits to low -tax countries by locating intellectual property in them, which is then licensed to related businesses in high-tax countries, is often assumed to be the preserve of high-tech companies. […] current tax rules make it easy for all sorts of firms to generate […] “stateless income”: profit subject to tax in a jurisdiction that is neither the location of the factors of production that generate the income nor where the parent firm is domiciled.}}
- a person of low mind
- a low trick or stratagem
- a low pulse
- made low by sickness
- the low northern latitudes
- Why but to keep ye low and ignorant?
- In comparison of these divine writers, the noblest wits of the heathen world are low and dull.
- a low diet
Synonyms
* (in a position comparatively close to the ground) nether, underslung * (small in height) short, small * (depressed) blue, depressed, down, miserable, sad, unhappy, gloomy * reduced, devalued, low-level * low-pitched, deep, flat * low-toned, soft * (despicable thing to do) immoral, abject, scummy, scurvyAntonyms
* (in a position comparatively close to the ground) highDerived terms
* high and low * lowball * low blow * low bridge * low-budget * low-cost * Low Countries * low-cut * lower * lowercase * low-fat * Low German * low-grade * low island * lowland * Low Latin * low-level * low loader * lowly * low-lying * low road * low tideNoun
(en noun)- You have achieved a new low in behavior, Frank.
- ''Economic growth has hit a new low .
- He is in a low right now
- Shift out of low before the car gets to eight miles per hour.
- He got the brand new Yankees jersey for the low .
Adverb
(er)- Can sing both high and low .
- to speak low
- The odorous wind / Breathes low between the sunset and the moon.
- He sold his wheat low .
- In that part of the world which was first inhabited, even as low down as Abraham's time, they wandered with their flocks and herds.
- The moon runs low , i.e. comparatively near the horizon when on or near the meridian.
Etymology 2
From (etyl), from (etyl) . More at laugh.Verb
(head)Etymology 3
From (etyl) . More at claim.Etymology 4
From (etyl) lowe, loghe, from (etyl) . More at leye, light.Alternative forms
* loweEtymology 5
From (etyl) . Obsolete by the 19th century, survives in toponymy as -low.Alternative forms
* laweNoun
(en noun)- A barrow or Low, such as were usually cast up over the bodies of eminent Captains.'' (Robert Plot, ''The natural history of Staffordshire , 1686; cited after OED).
- And some they brought the brown lint-seed, and flung it down from the Low.'' (Mary Howitt, ''Ballads and other poems 1847)