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Smaller vs Diminutive - What's the difference?

smaller | diminutive |

As a verb smaller

is .

As an adjective diminutive is

very small.

As a noun diminutive is

(grammar) a word form expressing smallness, youth, unimportance, or endearment.

smaller

English

Adjective

(head)
  • (small)

    • Anagrams

    *

    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 ----

    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

    External links

    * (wikipedia "diminutive")

    Related terms

    * diminish * dimwit ----