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Glite Dictionary
thimbleful

thimbleful

1 7.7
A very small amount, about what fits in a thimble
  • noun
  • /ˈθɪmbəlˌfəl/
translation icon : dedal
  • What independent schools and our constituencies do with the thimbleful of power entrusted to us has the possibility of changing generations, breaking cycles of lost opportunity, and redirecting the energy of a nation towards its democratic vision.

Examples

  • She only needed a thimbleful of sugar for her coffee.

  • Even Tamborel got a thimbleful.

    Fiction book (1993)

  • Yeah, and did we get a thimbleful of credit for it?

    Time Bandits (1981)

  • You never said only the rich, only a thimbleful.

    Bright Star (2009)

  • I'm talking, less than a thimbleful.

    Meet the Fockers (2004)

  • In good working order, your suit won't lose more than a thimbleful of water a day.

    Dune (2021)

  • "They haven't got a thimbleful of gold among them.

    Fiction book (1995)

  • The small cups held only a few thimblefuls of sake.

    Fiction book (1990)

  • It wouldn't take more than a thimbleful to kill you.

    The Imitation Game (2014)

  • The space between stars is filled with a tenuous gas with an average density so low that a thimbleful would hold just a single atom.

    Academic text (1992)

Synonyms

spoonful
vsthimbleful
26 1.0

An amount of something that fills a spoon

is a much tinier, more specific tiny amount rather than variable utensil measures
thimble
vsthimbleful
3 4.6

A very small amount, like a tiny spoonful

is the measurement term for that same tiny amount
teaspoonful
vsthimbleful
1 1.0

An amount that fits a teaspoon for cooking or medicine

is a tinier, informal quantity not tied to cooking measures
needleful
vsthimbleful
5.1

A small amount of thread that a needle can hold for sewing

is the same tiny size but applies beyond sewing materials

Antonyms

mountain
  • Informal
140 3.2

A very large amount of something that is hard to deal with

barrelful
1 2.8

An amount that fills a large round container used for liquids or food

How Much

handful
81 1.0
to pinch
57 1.8
thimbleful
1 7.7
drop
349 1.0
trace
492 3.3

Surface Forms

thimbleful singular
thimblefuls plural

Morphology

thimbleful = thimble (transparent) = thimble + ful

Formed from 'thimble' plus the productive '-ful' meaning an amount that fills a thimble, so the quantity sense is directly inferable.

Etymology

Thimbleful comes from thimble ('a small cap for your finger') and the ending -ful ('as much as something can hold'). So a thimbleful is the amount a thimble can hold, meaning a very small quantity.