English adjective: little | |||
1. | little limited or below average in number or quantity or magnitude or extent | ||
Samples | A little dining room. A little house. A small car. A little (or small) group. | ||
Synonyms | small | ||
Similar | atomic, bantam, bittie, bitty, diminutive, dinky, dwarfish, elfin, elflike, flyspeck, gnomish, half-size, infinitesimal, itsy-bitsy, itty-bitty, lesser, lilliputian, littler, micro, microscopic, microscopical, midget, miniature, miniscule, minuscule, minute, olive-sized, petite, pocket-size, pocket-sized, pocketable, puny, runty, shrimpy, slender, slim, small-scale, smaller, smallish, subatomic, teensy, teensy-weensy, teentsy, teeny, teeny-weeny, tiny, undersize, undersized, wee, weensy, weeny | ||
Attribute | size | ||
Antonyms | big, large | ||
2. | little (quantifier used with mass nouns) small in quantity or degree; not much or almost none or (with `a') at least some | ||
Samples | Little rain fell in May. Gave it little thought. Little time is left. We still have little money. A little hope remained. There's slight chance that it will work. There's a slight chance it will work. | ||
Synonyms | slight | ||
Similar | small | ||
See also | less | ||
Antonyms | much | ||
3. | little (of children and animals) young, immature | ||
Samples | What a big little boy you are. Small children. | ||
Synonyms | small | ||
Similar | immature, young | ||
Antonyms | old | ||
4. | little (informal) small and of little importance | ||
Samples | 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. | ||
Synonyms | fiddling, footling, lilliputian, niggling, petty, picayune, piddling, piffling, trivial | ||
Similar | unimportant | ||
Domain usage | colloquialism | ||
Antonyms | important, of import | ||
5. | little (of a voice) faint | ||
Samples | A little voice. A still small voice. | ||
Synonyms | small | ||
Similar | soft | ||
Antonyms | loud | ||
6. | little low in stature; not tall | ||
Samples | He was short and stocky. Short in stature. A short smokestack. A little man. | ||
Synonyms | short | ||
Similar | chunky, compact, dumpy, half-length, heavyset, low-set, pint-size, pint-sized, runty, sawed-off, sawn-off, short-stalked, squab, squabby, squat, squatty, stocky, stumpy, thick, thickset | ||
See also | low | ||
Attribute | height, stature | ||
Antonyms | tall | ||
7. | little lowercase | ||
Samples | Little a. Small a. E.e.cummings's poetry is written all in minuscule letters. | ||
Synonyms | minuscule, small | ||
Similar | lowercase | ||
Antonyms | uppercase | ||
8. | little small in a way that arouses feelings (of tenderness or its opposite depending on the context) | ||
Samples | 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. | ||
Similar | emotional | ||
Antonyms | unemotional | ||
English noun: little | |||
1. | little (quantity) a small amount or duration | ||
Samples | He accepted the little they gave him. | ||
Broader (hypernym) | small indefinite amount, small indefinite quantity | ||
English adverb: little | |||
1. | little not much | ||
Samples | He talked little about his family. | ||