tenuity; paucity; fewness &c (small number) 103; meanness,
insignificance (unimportance) 643; mediocrity, moderation.
small quantity, modicum, trace, hint, minimum; vanishing point;
material point, atom, particle, molecule, corpuscle, point, speck, dot,
mote, jot, iota, ace; minutiae, details; look, thought, idea, soupcon,
dab, dight†, whit, tittle, shade, shadow; spark, scintilla, gleam;
touch, cast; grain, scruple, granule, globule, minim, sup, sip, sop,
spice, drop, droplet, sprinkling, dash, morceau†, screed, smack, tinge,
tincture; inch, patch, scantling, tatter, cantlet†, flitter, gobbet†,
mite, bit, morsel, crumb, seed, fritter, shive†; snip, snippet; snick†,
snack, snatch, slip, scrag†; chip, chipping; shiver, sliver, driblet,
clipping, paring, shaving, hair.
nutshell; thimbleful, spoonful, handful, capful, mouthful;
fragment; fraction &c (part) 51; drop in the ocean.
animalcule &c 193.
trifle &c (unimportant thing) 643; mere nothing, next to nothing;
hardly anything; just enough to swear by; the shadow of a shade.
finiteness, finite quantity.
V. be small &c adj.; lie in a nutshell.
diminish &c (decrease) 36; (contract) 195.
Adj. small, little; diminutive &c (small in size) 193; minute; fine;
inconsiderable, paltry &c (unimportant) 643; faint &c (weak) 160;
slender, light, slight, scanty, scant, limited; meager &c
(insufficient) 640; sparing; few &c 103; low, so-so, middling,
tolerable, no great shakes; below par, under par, below the mark; at a
low ebb; halfway; moderate, modest; tender, subtle.
inappreciable, evanescent, infinitesimal, homeopathic, very small;
atomic, corpuscular, microscopic, molecular, subatomic.
mere, simple, sheer, stark, bare; near run.
dull, petty, shallow, stolid, ungifted, unintelligent.
Adv. to a small extent [in a small degree], on a small scale; a little
bit, a wee bit; slightly &c adj.; imperceptibly; miserably, wretchedly;
insufficiently &c 640; imperfectly; faintly &c 160; passably, pretty
well, well enough.
[in a certain or limited degree] partially, in part; in a certain
degree, to a certain degree; to a certain extent; comparatively; some,
rather in some degree, in some measure; something, somewhat; simply,
only, purely, merely; at least, at the least, at most, at the most;
ever so little, as little as may be, tant soit peu [Fr.], in ever so
small a degree; thus far, pro tanto [It], within bounds, in a manner,
after a fashion, so to speak.
almost, nearly, well-nigh, short of, not quite, all but; near
upon, close upon; peu s'en faut [Fr.], near the mark; within an ace of,
within an inch of; on the brink of; scarcely, hardly, barely, only
just, no more than.
about [in an uncertain degree], thereabouts, somewhere about,
nearly, say; be the same, be little more or less.
no ways [in no degree], no way, no wise; not at all, not in the
least, not a bit, not a bit of it, not a whit, not a jot, not a shadow;
in no wise, in no respect; by no means, by no manner of means; on no
account, at no hand.
Phr. dare pondus idonea fumo [Lat.] [Persius]; magno conatu magnas
nugas [Lat.] [Terence]; small sands the mountain, moments make the year
[Young].
2 QUANTITY BY COMPARISON WITH A SIMILAR OBJECT