Pronunciations (11)
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/smɔl/
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/smɑl/
Pronunciation notes
- cot-caught-merger
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/smɔːl/
Pronunciation notes
- Received-Pronunciation
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[smoːɫ]
Pronunciation notes
- Received-Pronunciation
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/smɔl/
Pronunciation notes
- Scotland
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/smaːl/
Pronunciation notes
- Northumbria
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/smoːl/
Pronunciation notes
- Australia
- New-Zealand
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smɔːl
Pronunciation notes
- GB
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smɔl
Pronunciation notes
- US
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smɑl
Pronunciation notes
- CA
-
smoːl
Pronunciation notes
- AU
Adjective
Not large or big; insignificant; few in number.
- Examples
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We have a small garden.
A small serving of ice cream.
A small group.
More examples (4)
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.
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.
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.
Guinness World Record confirmed the micro-cube as the world’s smallest rotating puzzle cube in August.
Not large or big; insignificant; few in number. Humiliated or insignificant.
- Examples
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The bullies had succeeded in making him feel small.
For all the times that you made me feel small / I fell in love, now I feel nothing at all
Not large or big; insignificant; few in number. Having a small penis, muscles, or other important body parts, regardless of overall body size.
- Synonyms
- Examples
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(of genitals)
Though over six feet tall, the man was very small and ashamed to undress.
Young, as a child.
Usage- Figurative
- not-comparable
- Examples
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Remember when the children were small?
Minuscule or lowercase, referring to written or printed letters.
Usage- not-comparable
- Examples
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Write your name in small letters.
"I've got catholic tastes. Catholic with a small "c", of course."
Evincing little worth or ability; not large-minded; paltry; mean.
- Examples
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A true delineation of the smallest man is capable of interesting the greatest man.
Not prolonged in duration; not extended in time; short.
- Examples
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a small space of time
Synonym of little (“of an industry or institution(s) therein: operating on a small scale, unlike larger counterparts”).
- Examples
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small science
Slender, gracefully slim.
Usage- Archaic
That is small (the manufactured size).
Usage- especially
- Examples
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I'll have a small coffee, thanks.
Adverb
In a small fashion
- Examples
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Don't write very small!
In or into small pieces.
- Examples
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That's going to go in there. We've got some chives small chopped as well.
To a small extent.
Usage- Obsolete
- Examples
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It small avails my mood.
In a low tone; softly.
Usage- Obsolete
- Examples
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That's all one: you shall play it in a mask, and / you may speak as small as you will.
Noun
One of several common sizes to which an item may be manufactured, smaller than a medium.
Usage- especially
- noun-from-verb
- Uncountable
- Synonyms
An item labelled or denoted as being that size.
Usage- Countable
- especially
- noun-from-verb
- Examples
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Two smalls and a large, please.
One who fits an item of that size.
Usage- Countable
- especially
- noun-from-verb
- with respect to clothing
Any part of something that is smaller or slimmer than the rest, now usually with anatomical reference to the back.
Usage- Countable
- noun-from-verb
- Rare
- Examples
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I got a splitting pain in the small of my back
Verb
To make little or less.
Usage- noun-from-verb
- Obsolete
- Transitive
To become small; to dwindle.
Usage- Intransitive
- noun-from-verb
- Examples
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And smalled till she was nought at all.
Adjective
limited or below average in number or quantity or magnitude or extent
- Synonyms
- Antonyms
- Examples
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a little dining room
a little house
More examples (2)
a small car
a little (or small) group
relatively moderate, limited, or small
- Examples
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a small business
a newspaper with a modest circulation
More examples (2)
small-scale plans
a pocket-size country
(of children and animals) young, immature
- Synonyms
- Examples
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what a big little boy you are
small children
slight or limited; especially in degree or intensity or scope
- Examples
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a series of death struggles with small time in between
low or inferior in station or quality
- Examples
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a humble cottage
a lowly parish priest
More examples (2)
a modest man of the people
small beginnings
lowercase
- Examples
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little a
small a
More examples (1)
e.e.cummings's poetry is written all in minuscule letters
(of a voice) faint
- Synonyms
- Examples
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a little voice
a still small voice
have fine or very small constituent particles
- Examples
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a small misty rain
not large but sufficient in size or amount
- Synonyms
- Examples
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a modest salary
modest inflation
More examples (1)
helped in my own small way
made to seem smaller or less (especially in worth)
- Synonyms
- Examples
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her comments made me feel small
Noun
the slender part of the back
- Broader terms
a garment size for a small person
- Broader terms
Adverb
on a small scale
- Antonyms
- Examples
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think small