Diminutive
adj, noun ·Moderate ·High school level
Definitions
- 1 A word form expressing smallness, youth, unimportance, or endearment.
"Booklet, the diminutive of book, means ‘small book’."
- 2 a word that is formed with a suffix (such as ‘-let’ or ‘-kin’) to indicate smallness wordnet
- 3 The smallest, thinnest version of a traditional heraldic ordinary ("geometric shape on a shield"), often used to represent multiple instances of a charge or to modify a main, central, and larger charge; not itself modifiable.
- 1 Very small.
"Mrs. Washington ("Oh, la, call me Martha, Boys") is a diminutive woman with a cheerful rather than happy air, who seems to bustle even when standing still.."
- 2 Serving to diminish. obsolete
"1711, Anthony Ashley-Cooper, 3rd Earl of Shaftesbury, Characteristicks of Men, Manners, Opinions, Times, 1714 edition republished by Gregg International Publishers, 1968, Volume 3, Miscellany 3, Chapter 2, p. 175, They cou’d, perhaps, even embrace POVERTY contentedly, rather than submit to any thing diminutive either of their inward Freedom or national Liberty."
- 3 Of or pertaining to, or creating a word form expressing smallness, youth, unimportance, or endearment.
- 1 very small wordnet
Antonyms
All antonymsExample
More examples"Liliana is a girl's name and its diminutive is usually Lili, but sometimes Iana is used, Iana being the last part of the name."
Etymology
Inherited from Middle English diminutif, derived from Old French diminutif, derived from Latin dīminutīv|us, ~a, ~um (adjective), from dīminūt|us, ~a, ~um (participle), perfect passive participle of dīmin|uō, ~uere, ~uī, ~ūtum (verb). First attested in 1398.
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Data sourced from Wiktionary, WordNet, CMU, and other open linguistic databases. Updated March 2026.