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shrew-sized

shrew-sized

7.4
About as small as a shrew, a tiny mouse-like animal
  • adjective
  • /ʃruː-saɪzd/
translation icon : del tamaño de una musaraña
  • The fossil was described as shrew-sized by the research team.

Examples

  • A shrew-sized animal could easily hide in the undergrowth.

  • The shrew-sized creature scurried across the forest floor.

  • He compared the robot to a shrew-sized creature in terms of scale.

  • I found a shrew-sized insect in my garden.

  • The shrew-sized insect darted quickly among the leaves.

  • Researchers discovered a shrew-sized mammal that lived millions of years ago.

  • Many species of small rodents are often described as shrew-sized due to their tiny dimensions.

Synonyms

small
vsshrew-sized
862 1.0

Young and not fully grown

is about adult tiny body size rather than youth or immaturity
miniature
vsshrew-sized
101 3.6

Very small in size compared with the usual type

is about an actual tiny animal size not a reduced model
diminutive
vsshrew-sized
20 6.8

Very small in size

is size specific rather than a general term for extreme tininess
mouse-sized
vsshrew-sized
1 3.5

About the same size as a small mouse

is slightly smaller and names a very tiny mammal size
sparrow-sized
vsshrew-sized
4.3

About the size of a small bird like a sparrow

is similar but refers to a tiny mammal rather than a bird
grape-sized
vsshrew-sized
1.3

About the same size as a grape

is larger and refers to a very small mammal size instead

Antonyms

1.0

Very large in size, amount, or degree

2 1.0

A clothing size for people bigger than average

How Small

microscopic
52 4.8
minuscule
37 4.4
shrew-sized
7.4
tiny
1.0
small
2 1.1

Surface Forms

shrew-sized positive

Morphology

shrew-sized = shrew (transparent) = shrew + sized

The adjective is clearly formed from the noun 'shrew' plus the productive adjective-forming element '-sized', so its meaning is directly derivable.

Etymology

Shrew-sized uses the tiny mammal shrew and the ending -sized, from size meaning 'how big something is', so it means 'as small as a shrew'. A helpful way to remember it is like cat-sized or pocket-sized: the word tells you the object's size by comparing it to a shrew.