Word definition: little

Etimology


From Middle English litel, from Old English lyttel, lȳtel, from Proto-West Germanic *lūtil, from Proto-Germanic *lūtilaz (“tending to stoop, crouched, little”), from Proto-Indo-European *lewd- (“to bend, bent, small”), equivalent to lout +‎ -le. Cognate with Dutch luttel, regional German lütt and lützel, Saterland Frisian litje, West Frisian lyts, Low German lütt, lüttje. Related also to Old English lūtan (“to bow, bend low”); and perhaps to Old English lytiġ (“deceitful”), Gothic 𐌻𐌹𐌿𐍄𐍃 (liuts, “deceitful”), 𐌻𐌿𐍄𐌾𐌰𐌽 (lutjan, “to deceive”); compare also Icelandic lítill (“little”), Faroese lítil, Swedish liten, Danish liden, lille, Gothic 𐌻𐌴𐌹𐍄𐌹𐌻𐍃 (leitils), which appear to have a different root vowel. More at lout.

adjective


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

Small in size.

Insignificant, trivial.

Very young.

(of a sibling) Younger.

(often capitalized) Used with the name of a place, especially of a country or its capital, to denote a neighborhood whose residents or storekeepers are from that place.

Having few members.

(of an industry or other field, or institution(s) therein, often capitalized) Operating on a small scale.

Short in duration; brief.

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

Examples


This is a little table.

Synonyms: small, under-endowed

"You are a little, little man," she proclaimed, staring obviously below my waist as she pronounced the second "little." It was almost disappointing. I'd heard that one before, but it still left a new scar each time.

It's of little importance.

Urania speaks with darken’d brow:⁠‘Thou pratest here where thou art least;⁠This faith has many a purer priest,And many an abler voice than thou: […] ’

Listen up, you little shit.

Did he tell you any embarrassing stories about when she was little?

That's the biggest little boy I've ever seen.

This is my little sister.

If you want to find Little France, take any turning on the north side of Leicester square, and wander in a zigzag fashion Oxford Streetwards. The Little is rather smokier and more squalid than the Great France upon the other side of the Manche.

In the forties, hurdy-gurdy men could still be heard in all those East Coast cities with strong Italian neighbourhoods: New York, Baltimore, Philadelphia and Boston. A visit to Baltimore's Little Italy at that time was like a trip to Italy itself.

"The theatre was bought by the Croatian immigrants as so many immigrants came here in the ’30s and mostly for mining jobs, but in Schumacher itself it was called little Zagreb, and Zagreb is the capital city of Croatia. There were so many of them that they wanted to have their own little community, so they bought the theatre and they renovated it at that time, remodelled it and made it into a Croatian Hall," she explained.

He is the embodiment of Fleet Street bullying, using his newspaper to peddle his Little-England, curtain-twitching Alan Partridgesque view of the world, which manages to combine sanctimonious, pompous moralising and prurient, voyeuristic, judgmental obsession

little herd

Little Steel

Little Science

I feel better after my little sleep.

The long-necked geese of the world that are ever hissing dispraise, / Because their natures are little.

Showing unmistakably what a little person he really was, in June 1949 he wrote his newly married daughter with nauseating disregard for the truth

Related words


antonyms

(small): large, big

(young): big

(younger): big

adverb


little (comparative less or lesser, superlative least)

Not much.

Not at all.

Examples


This is a little known fact.  She spoke little and listened less.

We slept very little last night.

Little disappointed, then, she turned attention to "Chat of the Social World," gossip which exercised potent fascination upon the girl's intelligence. She devoured with more avidity than she had her food those pretentiously phrased chronicles of the snobocracy […] distilling therefrom an acid envy that robbed her napoleon of all its savour.

I was speaking ill of Fred; little did I know that he was right behind me, listening in.

But then I had the [massive] flintlock by me for protection. ¶ […] The linen-press and a chest on the top of it formed, however, a very good gun-carriage; and, thus mounted, aim could be taken out of the window […], and a 'bead' could be drawn upon Molly, the dairymaid, kissing the fogger behind the hedge, little dreaming that the deadly tube was levelled at them.

But as United saw the game out, little did they know that, having looked likely to win their 13th Premier League title, it was City who turned the table to snatch glory from their arch-rivals' grasp.

Related words


antonyms

much

determiner


little (comparative less, superlative least)

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

Examples


There is little water left.

We had very little to do.

Across Japan, technology companies and private investors are racing to install devices that until recently they had little interest in: solar panels. Massive solar parks are popping up as part of a rapid build-up that one developer likened to an "explosion."

Related words


antonyms

(not much): much

pronoun


little

Not much; not a large amount.

Examples


Little is known about his early life.

noun


little (countable and uncountable, plural littles)

(chiefly uncountable or in the singular) A small amount.

(countable, informal) A child; particularly an infant.

An adult in a child-like role:

Short for little go (“type of examination”).

Examples


Can I try a little of that sauce?

Little did he do to make me comfortable.

If you want some cake, there's a little in the refrigerator.

Many littles make a mickle.

Antonym: big

He was there the night of Cristoph's party. All the littles were assigned to their bigs. Ian and Christoph had rushed the same fraternity. When they became upperclassmen, they both ended up on the board.

She added that the relationship between bigs and littles is "what each pair makes of it," and that a lot of the pairs often get dinner together and become close friends.

Some traditions of the chapter include lineages with bigs and littles, receiving of paddles from a big, and a national stroll, Wolsch-Gallia said.

People with [dissociative identity] disorder frequently have a younger personality among their distinctive personalities. However, it’s believed that the "little" may not be a separate personality. Instead, it may be a regressed version of the original personality.

I go up for my Little tomorrow.

I go up for my Little tomorrow.

Data provided by Wiktionary