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little - Meaning and Examples

Meaning of 'little' (Webster Dictionary)

1 . Little [ a.]
- 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.
- Short in duration; brief; as, a little sleep.
- Small in quantity or amount; not much; as, a little food; a little air or water.
- Small in dignity, power, or importance; not great; insignificant; contemptible.
- Small in force or efficiency; not strong; weak; slight; inconsiderable; as, little attention or exertion;little effort; little care or diligence.
- Small in extent of views or sympathies; narrow; shallow; contracted; mean; illiberal; ungenerous.
2 . Little [ adv.]
- In a small quantity or degree; not much; slightly; somewhat; -- often with a preceding it.
3 . Little [ n.]
- That which is little; a small quantity, amount, space, or the like.
- A small degree or scale; miniature.

Meaning of 'little' (Princeton's WordNet)

1 . little [ n]
Meaning (1):
- a small amount or duration
Example in sentence:
  • he accepted the little they gave him
2 . little [ a]
Meaning (2):
- limited or below average in number or quantity or magnitude or extent
Example in sentence:
  • a little (or small) group;
  • a little dining room;
  • a little house;
  • a small car
Meaning (3):
- (quantifier used with mass nouns) small in quantity or degree; not much or almost none or (with `a') at least some
Example in sentence:
  • a little hope remained;
  • gave it little thought;
  • little rain fell in May;
  • little time is left;
  • there's a slight chance it will work;
  • there's slight chance that it will work;
  • we still have little money
Meaning (4):
- low in stature; not tall
Example in sentence:
  • a little man;
  • a short smokestack;
  • he was short and stocky;
  • short in stature
5 . little [ r]
Meaning (5):
- not much
Example in sentence:
  • he talked little about his family
6 . little [ s]
Meaning (6):
- (informal) small and of little importance
Example in sentence:
  • a dispute over niggling details;
  • a fiddling sum of money;
  • a footling gesture;
  • a little (or small) matter;
  • giving a police officer a free meal may be against the law, but it seems to be a picayune infraction;
  • limited to petty enterprises;
  • our worries are lilliputian compared with those of countries that are at war;
  • piffling efforts
Meaning (7):
- (of a voice) faint
Example in sentence:
  • a little voice;
  • a still small voice
Meaning (8):
- small in a way that arouses feelings (of tenderness or its opposite depending on the context)
Example in sentence:
  • a nice little job;
  • a sweet little deal;
  • bless your little heart;
  • filthy little tricks;
  • I'm tired of your petty little schemes;
  • my dear little mother;
  • what a nasty little situation
Meaning (9):
- lowercase
Example in sentence:
  • e.e.cummings's poetry is written all in minuscule letters;
  • little a;
  • small a
Meaning (10):
- (of children and animals) young, immature
Example in sentence:
  • small children;
  • what a big little boy you are

Nearby Words:

lit litanies litany litarge litate litchi lite liter literacy literal

See 'little' also in:

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