LITTLE

little

(adjective) small in a way that arouses feelings (of tenderness or its opposite depending on the context); “a nice little job”; “bless your little heart”; “my dear little mother”; “a sweet little deal”; “I’m tired of your petty little schemes”; “filthy little tricks”; “what a nasty little situation”

fiddling, footling, lilliputian, little, niggling, piddling, piffling, petty, picayune, trivial

(adjective) (informal) small and of little importance; “a fiddling sum of money”; “a footling gesture”; “our worries are lilliputian compared with those of countries that are at war”; “a little (or small) matter”; “a dispute over niggling details”; “limited to petty enterprises”; “piffling efforts”; “giving a police officer a free meal may be against the law, but it seems to be a picayune infraction”

small, little

(adjective) limited or below average in number or quantity or magnitude or extent; “a little dining room”; “a little house”; “a small car”; “a little (or small) group”

little, small

(adjective) (of a voice) faint; “a little voice”; “a still small voice”

little, minuscule, small

(adjective) lowercase; “little a”; “small a”; “e.e.cummings’s poetry is written all in minuscule letters”

little, small

(adjective) (of children and animals) young, immature; “what a big little boy you are”; “small children”

short, little

(adjective) low in stature; not tall; “he was short and stocky”; “short in stature”; “a short smokestack”; “a little man”

little

(adverb) not much; “he talked little about his family”

little

(noun) a small amount or duration; “he accepted the little they gave him”

Source: WordNet® 3.1

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Etymology

Adjective

little (comparative less or lesser or littler, superlative least or littlest)

Small in size.

Insignificant, trivial.

(offensive) Used to belittle a person.

Very young.

(of a sibling) Younger.

Used with the name of place, especially of a country, to denote a neighborhood whose residents or storekeepers are from that place.

Small in amount or number, having few members.

Short in duration; brief.

Small in extent of views or sympathies; narrow; shallow; contracted; mean; illiberal; ungenerous.

Usage notes

Some authorities regard both littler and littlest as non-standard. The OED says of the word little: "the adjective has no recognized mode of comparison. The difficulty is commonly evaded by resort to a synonym (as smaller, smallest); some writers have ventured to employ the unrecognized forms littler, littlest, which are otherwise confined to dialect or imitations of childish or illiterate speech." The forms lesser and least are encountered in animal names such as lesser flamingo and least weasel.

Antonyms

• (small): large, big

• (young): big

• (younger): big

Adverb

little (comparative less or lesser, superlative least)

Not much.

Not at all.

Antonyms

• much

Determiner

little

Not much, only a little: only a small amount (of).

Usage notes

• Little is used with uncountable nouns, few with plural countable nouns.

Antonyms

• (not much): much

Pronoun

little

Not much; not a large amount.

Noun

little (plural littles)

A small amount.

(BDSM, slang) The participant in ageplay who acts out the younger role.

Anagrams

• tillet

Proper noun

Little (plural Littles)

A surname.

Anagrams

• tillet

Source: Wiktionary

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Lit"tle, a. [The regular comparative of this word is wanting, its place being supplied by less, or, rarely, lesser. See Lesser. For the superlative least is used, the regular form, littlest, occurring very rarely, except in some of the English provinces, and occasionally in colloquial language. " Where love is great, the littlest doubts are fear." Shak.] Etym: [OE. litel, lutel, AS. l, litel, l; akin to OS. littil, D. luttel, LG. lütt, OHG. luzzil, MHG. lützel; and perh. to AS. lytig deceitful, lot deceit, Goth. liuts deceitful, lut to deceive; cf. also Icel. litill little, Sw. liten, Dan. liden, lille, Goth. leitils, which appear to have a different root vowel.]

1. Small in size or extent; not big; diminutive; -- opposed to big or large; as, a little body; a little animal; a little piece of ground; a little hill; a little distance; a little child. He sought to see Jesus who he was; and could not for the press, because he was little of stature. Luke xix. 3.

2. Short in duration; brief; as, a little sleep. Best him enough: after a little time, I'll beat him too. Shak.

3. Small in quantity or amount; not much; as, a little food; a little air or water. Conceited of their little wisdoms, and doting upon their own fancies. Barrow.

4. Small in dignity, power, or importance; not great; insignificant; contemptible. When thou wast little in thine own sight, wast thou not made the head of the tribes I Sam. xv. 17.

5. Small in force or efficiency; not strong; weak; slight; inconsiderable; as, little attention or exertion;little effort; little care or diligence. By sad experiment I know How little weight my words with thee can find. Milton.

6. Small in extent of views or sympathies; narrow; shallow; contracted; mean; illiberal; ungenerous. The long-necked geese of the world that are ever hissing dispraise, Because their natures are little. Tennyson. Little chief. (Zoöl.) See Chief hare.

– Little finger, the fourth and smallest finger of the hand.

– Little go (Eng. Universities), a public examination about the middle of the course, which as less strict and important than the final one; -- called also smalls. Cf. Great go, under Great. Thackeray.

– Little hours (R. C. Ch.), the offices of prime, tierce, sext, and nones. Vespers and compline are sometimes included.

– Little ones, young children. The men, and the women, and the little ones. Deut. ii. 34.

Lit"tle, n.

1. That which is little; a small quantity, amount, space, or the like. Much was in little writ. Dryden. There are many expressions, which carrying with them no clear ideas, are like to remove but little of my ignorance. Locke.

2. A small degree or scale; miniature. " His picture in little." Shak. A little, to or in a small degree; to a limited extent; somewhat; for a short time. " Stay a little." Shak. The painter flattered her a little. Shak.

– By little and little, or Little by little, by slow degrees; piecemeal; gradually.

Lit"tle, adv.

Definition: In a small quantity or degree; not much; slightly; somewhat; -- often with a preceding it. " The poor sleep little." Otway.

Source: Webster’s Unabridged Dictionary 1913 Edition

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