adj, name, noun, verb ·Common ·High school level
This entry combines structured lexical data with WordToolSet review checks. Definitions, examples, synonyms, and usage notes may come from different source tables, so the page is designed to show evidence from more than one angle before you rely on "dwarf" in a final draft.
If a word has several senses, prefer the sense that matches your sentence's grammar and surrounding context. A correct definition can still be the wrong choice when the sentence needs a different register, emphasis, or level of specificity.
Read the first definition as a starting point, then check the example, synonyms, and part of speech before treating "dwarf" as the right word for your sentence.
If your draft is formal, technical, persuasive, or sensitive, compare "dwarf" with a nearby alternative so the final choice matches both meaning and reader expectation.
Check whether "dwarf" is acting as adj, name, noun, verb in your sentence. A definition is only useful when the grammar matches the way the word is being used.
Compare it with "ace" and other nearby choices to see whether the sentence needs a softer, stronger, or more familiar word.
Use the example sentence below as an evidence check, then read your own sentence out loud to catch tone or rhythm problems.
Review note: Definition pages are checked for source coverage, sentence evidence, synonym support, and editorial insight before they are treated as approval-ready pages. If the evidence is too thin, the page remains available to users but is kept out of the approval-facing indexed inventory.
Before publishing a sentence with "dwarf", ask whether the word helps the reader understand the idea faster. A precise word should reduce confusion, not simply make the sentence look more polished.
When the definition, synonym evidence, and example context point in the same direction, the word is usually a safer choice. When they conflict, revise the sentence or choose a clearer alternative.
"[T]he elf king and his queen made a royal progress every noon with a splendid retinue of dwarves and sprites, […]"
"dwarf tree"
"But none of those brown dwarfs were speeding along on a trajectory that would carry them out of the galaxy like “runaway” hypervelocity stars observed by astronomers in the last two decades."
"The newly-built skyscraper dwarfs all older buildings in the downtown skyline."
"Bach dwarfs all other composers."
"At present the whole sex is in a manner dwarfed and shrunk - into a race of beauties that seems almost another species"
"The specimen is a very dwarf form of the plant."
"In debug mode, a compiled binary will include debugging symbols in the DWARF debugging format."
"The populations of China and India dwarf those of every other nation."
Any member of a race of beings from (especially Scandinavian and other Germanic) folklore, usually depicted as having some sort of supernatural powers and being skilled in crafting and metalworking, often as short with long beards, and sometimes as clashing with elves.
Common synonyms include: ace, ariel, atom, banshee, bedwarf, befind.
The populations of China and India dwarf those of every other nation.
Pronounced /dwɔɹf/.
From Middle English dwergh, dwerw, dwerf, from Old English dweorg, from Proto-West Germanic *dwerg, from Proto-Germanic *dwergaz. Cognate with Scots droich, dwerch (“dwarf, midget”); Old High German twerc (German, Luxembourgish Zwerg (“dwarf”)); Old Norse dvergr (Danish dværg (“dwarf, midget”), Faroese dvørgur (“dwarf”), Icelandic dvergur (“dwarf”), Norwegian Bokmål dverg (“dwarf”), Norwegian Nynorsk dverg, verg (“dwarf”), Swedish dvärg (“dwarf”)); Old Frisian dwirg (Saterland Frisian Dwärch (“dwarf”), West Frisian dwerch (“dwarf”)); Middle Low German dwerch, dwarch, twerg (German Low German Dwarg (“dwarf”)); Middle Dutch dwerch, dworch (Dutch dwerg (“dwarf”)). The Modern English noun has undergone complex phonetic changes. The form dwarf is the regular continuation of Old English dweorg, but the plural dweorgas would have given rise to dwarrows and the oblique stem dweorge- would have led to dwery. These forms are sometimes found as the nominative singular in Middle English texts and in English dialects. A parallel case is that of Old English burg giving burgh, borough, burrow, bury.
A play on the related ELF object file format. The backronym “Debugging With Arbitrary Record Formats” has been suggested.