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Glite Dictionary
📏 Being little 🪶 Lack of power 💧 Weakness 🪙 Pettiness
smallness

smallness

1 1.6
The state of being not large in size or amount
  • noun
  • /ˈsmɔːlnəs/
translation icon : pequeñez
  • That's an exaggeration, of course, but the smallness of the sport's winner's circle is a reflection of the sport itself.

The urge to step back, to consider the shortness of our lives and the smallness and our smallness in the cosmos.

Examples

  • She went through my things and wondered at the smallness of everything.

    Fiction book (1997)

  • Perhaps the cost, or the smallness of the fruit...

    Fiction book (2002)

  • We look up one day and we feel so small and that smallness tracks us everywhere we go.

  • We look up one day and we feel so small, and that smallness tracks us everywhere we go.

  • Is geographic smallness, in area and population, detrimental to future economic growth?

    Academic text (1991)

  • Her face was long and her mouth very small, and this smallness of the mouth limited the range of her expressions somewhat, so that one had to know her fairly well, as I thought I did, to read her.

    Fiction book (1990)

  • They all fussed over her smallness, her bright hair, her pretty hands.

    Fiction book (1993)

  • The urge to step back, to consider the shortness of our lives and the smallness and our smallness in the cosmos.

    Stanford

  • I sit in a loose dress that hides my formlessness, my boyish smallness, and I sit with my hands to myself, folded in.

    Fiction book (1994)

  • The smallness of the room made it feel cozy and safe.

Synonyms

tininess
vssmallness
1 4.3

The condition of being very small

is the general term for being less without stressing extreme degree
meagerness
vssmallness
  • US
1 7.0

A very small amount of something that is not enough

is neutral and covers size or amount without negative connotation
minuteness
vssmallness
  • Formal
6.7

The small size of something

is a broader quality covering size, amount, or general extent
diminutiveness
vssmallness
9.1

The state of being very small in size

refers more generally to being less in size, amount, or extent
littleness
vssmallness
5.9

A state of being small in size

also applies to amount or extent, not only physical size
petiteness
vssmallness
5.6

A state of being very small

is neutral, covering lack of size or amount without style

Antonyms

greatness
1 3.7

A very large size or amount, like a mountain

largeness
1 3.2

A great physical size, like a tree or hall

How Small

tininess
1 4.3
smallness
1 1.6
largeness
1 3.2

Surface Forms

smallness singular
smallnesses plural

Morphology

smallness = small (transparent) = small + ness

A standard nominalization from the adjective 'small' indicating the state or quality of being small; this is directly derivable by learners.

Etymology

Smallness is simply small + -ness, where -ness makes an adjective into a 'state' or 'quality', as in kindness. An old English form smæl meant 'narrow', so smallness is the 'state of being small in size'.