small businessman
11
2.8
- noun
- /smɔl ˈbɪznəsˌmæn/
- Canadian
:
pequeño empresario
- As a small businessman, he often struggles to compete with larger companies.
- small businessman and farmer
He was a Barber and small businessman.
- He was a Barber and small businessman.
Examples
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Her father had been a small businessman, but they'd lived side by side with Mennonite farmers.
Fiction book (2002) -
A small businessman expects his income from the visitors.
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But what can a small businessman do?
Fiction book (1993) -
To get the right sort of advertising these days, the small businessman has to go through hell.
Fiction book (1999) -
I am a job creator and a small businessman.
Blog text (14) -
I suggest a group of small businessmen with direct access to the President.
Blog text (28) -
Joe Donnelly is a small businessman and dad to a wonderful family.
Blog text (17) -
When he pressed for 18 small business tax cuts, he didn't ask if small businessmen and women were Democrats.
Blog text (19) -
And while it's easy to take shots at Taco Bell and Carl's Junior, what about small businessmen like Jeremy?
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I think about my grandfather's life—a butcher, a volunteer fireman, a small businessman, a husband, a father.
Blog text (16)
Synonyms
332
2.0
A man who works in business, often owning or running a company
7
2.9
A person who owns or runs a company
Antonyms
How Big
1
3.4
- Canadian
11
2.8
Surface Forms
Morphology
The meaning is a straightforward adjective + noun composition: 'small' modifies 'businessman' to indicate someone who runs or owns a business of limited scale. This compositional pattern (small business → small businessman) is cross-linguistically common and readily inferable by a B1 learner who knows both constituents and sees contextual cues like 'opened his shop'.
Etymology
Small businessman comes from putting small and businessman together. Picture the owner of a little shop standing behind the counter, doing sales, stock and paperwork themselves. That's why it means 'a person who owns or manages a business with fewer than 100 employees'.