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[syn: bantam, diminutive, lilliputian, midget, petite, tiny, flyspeck]
The Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.48:
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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The Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.48:
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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WordNet (r) 3.0 (2006):
diminutive
adj 1: 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, diminutive, lilliputian, midget,
petite, tiny, flyspeck]
n 1: a word that is formed with a suffix (such as -let or -kin)
to indicate smallness