Liberal Dictionary English Dictionary
adjective
- small; little; tiny: a diminutive building for a model-train layout.
- Grammar. pertaining to or productive of a form denoting smallness, familiarity, affection, or triviality, as the suffix -let, in droplet from drop.
noun
- a small thing or person.
- Grammar. a diminutive element or formation.
- Heraldry. a charge, as an ordinary, smaller in length or breadth than the usual.
adjective
- very small; tiny
- grammar
- denoting an affix added to a word to convey the meaning small or unimportant or to express affection, as for example the suffix -ette in French
- denoting a word formed by the addition of a diminutive affix
noun
- grammar a diminutive word or affix
- a tiny person or thing
late 14c. (noun and adjective), from Old French diminutif (14c.), from Latin diminutivus, earlier deminutivus, from past participle stem of deminuere (see diminish).