Hypertext Webster Gateway: "diminutive"
From Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary (1913) (web1913)
Diminutive \Di*min"u*tive\, a. [Cf. L. deminutivus, F.
diminutif.]
1. Below the average size; very small; little.
2. Expressing diminution; as, a diminutive word.
3. Tending to diminish. [R.]
Diminutive of liberty. --Shaftesbury.
From Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary (1913) (web1913)
Diminutive \Di*min"u*tive\, n.
1. Something of very small size or value; an insignificant
thing.
Such water flies, diminutives of nature. --Shak.
2. (Gram.) A derivative from a noun, denoting a small or a
young object of the same kind with that denoted by the
primitive; as, gosling, eaglet, lambkin.
Babyisms and dear diminutives. --Tennyson.
Note: The word sometimes denotes a derivative verb which
expresses a diminutive or petty form of the action, as
scribble.
From WordNet (r) 1.7 (wn)
diminutive
adj : very small; "diminutive in stature"; "a lilliputian chest of
drawers"; "her petite figure"; "tiny feet" [syn: {bantam},
{lilliputian}, {midget}, {petite}, {tiny}]
n : a word that is formed with a suffix (such as -let or -kin)
to indicate smallness
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