small

comparative smaller · superlative smallest

1. Not large or big; insignificant; few in number.

   A small group.

   5 more examples

   A small serving of ice cream.

   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.

   1918, W[illiam] B[abington] Maxwell, chapter V, in The Mirror and the Lamp, Indianapolis, Ind.: The Bobbs-Merrill Company, →OCLC

   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.

   2013 June 22, “Engineers of a different kind”, in The Economist, volume 407, number 8841, archived from the original on 25 Nov 2020, page 70

   The orbiter has been observing the moon since 2009, and its reflector is a smaller version of reflector panels placed on the lunar surface during the Apollo 11, 14 and 15 landings on the moon. Soviet lunar robotic landers sent in 1970 and 1973 also carried smaller reflectors.

   2020 August 13, Ashley Strickland, “The reason we’re shooting laser beams between Earth and the moon”, in CNN

   Guinness World Record confirmed the micro-cube as the world’s smallest rotating puzzle cube in August.

   2024 October 4, Chris Lau and Nodoka Katsura, “This is the world’s smallest Rubik’s Cube. And it actually works”, in CNN

   Synonyms: little, microscopic, minuscule, minute, tiny · Antonyms: big, generous, large, ample, big, bodacious, broad, commodious

   1. Humiliated or insignificant.

      The bullies had succeeded in making him feel small.

      1 more example

      For all the times that you made me feel small / I fell in love, now I feel nothing at all

      2015, Justin Bieber, Love Yourself

      Synonyms: little, microscopic, minuscule, minute, tiny · Antonyms: big, generous, large, ample, big, bodacious, broad, commodious

   2. Having a small penis, muscles, or other important body parts, regardless of overall body size.

      (of genitals)

      1 more example

      Though over six feet tall, the man was very small and ashamed to undress.

      Synonyms: little, microscopic, minuscule, minute, tiny, little, under-endowed · Antonyms: big, generous, large, ample, big, bodacious, broad, commodious

2. figurativelynot comparableYoung, as a child.

   Remember when the children were small?

   Synonyms: little, wee, young · Antonyms: adult, grown-up, old

3. not comparablecommunicationsMinuscule or lowercase, referring to written or printed letters.

   "I've got catholic tastes. Catholic with a small "c", of course."

   1959, Anthony Burgess, Beds in the East (The Malayan Trilogy), published 1972, page 584

   Synonyms: lowercase, minuscule · Antonyms: big, capital, majuscule, uppercase

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

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

   1851, Thomas Carlyle, The Life of John Sterling

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

   a small space of time

6. Synonym of little (“of an industry or institution(s) therein: operating on a small scale, unlike larger counterparts”).

   small science

   Synonyms: little

7. archaicSlender, gracefully slim.
8. especiallyfood or drinkbusinessThat is small (the manufactured size).

   I'll have a small coffee, thanks.

comparative smaller · superlative smallest

1. In a small fashion

   Don't write very small!

2. In or into small pieces.

   That's going to go in there. We've got some chives small chopped as well.

   2009, Ingrid Hoffman, CBS Early Morning for September 28, 2009 (transcription)

3. obsoleteTo a small extent.

   It small avails my mood.

   1594, William Shakespeare, Lucrece (First Quarto), London: […] Richard Field, for Iohn Harrison, […], →OCLC, line 1273

4. obsoleteIn a low tone; softly.

   That's all one: you shall play it in a mask, and / you may speak as small as you will.

   c. 1595–1596 (date written), William Shakespeare, “A Midsommer Nights Dreame”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies: Published According to the True Originall Copies (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, [Act I, scene ii], line 49

plural smalls

1. especiallynoun from verbuncountablefood or drinkbusinessOne of several common sizes to which an item may be manufactured, smaller than a medium.

   Synonyms: S

2. countableespeciallynoun from verbfood or drinkbusinessAn item labelled or denoted as being that size.

   Two smalls and a large, please.

3. countableespeciallynoun from verbOne who fits an item of that size.
4. countablenoun from verbrareAny part of something that is smaller or slimmer than the rest, now usually with anatomical reference to the back.

   I got a splitting pain in the small of my back

present singular third person smalls · participle present smalling · participle past smalled · past smalled

1. noun from verbobsoletetransitiveTo make little or less.
2. intransitivenoun from verbTo become small; to dwindle.

   And smalled till she was nought at all.

   1917, Thomas Hardy, The Clock of the Years

plural Smalls · alternative Smale · alternative Smales · alternative Smalles · alternative Smalls

1. A surname.

   “People have biases towards species that are glamorous,” said Dr. Ernie Small, author of the study and taxonomist for Agriculture Canada.

   2012 May 6, Eoghan Macguire, “Beauty trumps beast in conservation efforts”, in CNN