Diminutive

4 definitions found

From The Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.48 [gcide]:

  Diminutive \Di*min"u*tive\, a. [Cf. L. deminutivus, F.
     diminutif.]
     1. Below the average size; very small; little.
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     2. Expressing diminution; as, a diminutive word.


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     3. Tending to diminish. [R.]
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              Diminutive of liberty.                --Shaftesbury.
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From The Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.48 [gcide]:

  Diminutive \Di*min"u*tive\, n.
     1. Something of very small size or value; an insignificant
        thing.
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              Such water flies, diminutives of nature. --Shak.
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     2. (Gram.) A derivative from a noun, denoting a small or a
        young object of the same kind with that denoted by the
        primitive; as, gosling, eaglet, lambkin.
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              Babyisms and dear diminutives.        --Tennyson.
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     Note: The word sometimes denotes a derivative verb which
           expresses a diminutive or petty form of the action, as
           scribble.
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From WordNet (r) 2.0 [wn]:

  diminutive
       adj : very small; "diminutive in stature"; "a lilliputian chest of
             drawers"; "her petite figure"; "tiny feet"; "the
             flyspeck nation of Bahrain moved toward democracy"
             [syn: {bantam}, {lilliputian}, {midget}, {petite}, {tiny},
              {flyspeck}]
       n : a word that is formed with a suffix (such as -let or -kin)
           to indicate smallness

From Moby Thesaurus II by Grady Ward, 1.0 [moby-thes]:

  81 Moby Thesaurus words for "diminutive":
     Lilliputian, affectionate name, baby, baby-sized, bantam, banty,
     button, byname, chit, cognomen, cognominal, compact, duodecimo,
     elfin, epithetic, featherweight, fingerling, formal, handy,
     honorific, hypocoristic, in name only, infinitesimal, lightweight,
     lilliputian, little, micro, microscopic, midget, mini, miniature,
     miniaturized, minikin, minimal, minnow, minny, minuscule, minute,
     mouse, nickname, nominal, nominative, nubbin, peewee, pet name,
     petite, pocket, pocket-sized, pony, pygmy, quasi, runt,
     self-called, self-christened, self-styled, shrimp, slip, small,
     small fry, small-scale, snip, snippet, so-called, sobriquet,
     soi-disant, subminiature, teensy-weensy, teeny, teeny-weeny, tiny,
     tit, titular, toy, twelvemo, undersized, vest-pocket, wart, wee,
     weeny, wisp, would-be