D defs.my
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Entry 5 senses · 2 variants Webster, 1913

Diminutive

/dĭ-mĭn′yə-tĭv/ · Di·min·u·tive · IPA /dɪˈmɪn.jə.tɪv/
01 a. Below the average size; very small; little.
  1. 1.
    Below the average size; very small; little.
  2. 2.
    Expressing diminution; as, a diminutive word.
  3. 3.
    Tending to diminish.[R.]
    “Diminutive of liberty.” — Shaftesbury.
02 n. Something of very small size or value; an insignificant thing.
  1. 1.
    Something of very small size or value; an insignificant thing.
    “Such water flies, diminutives of nature.” — Shak.
  2. 2.
    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.(Gram.)
    “Babyisms and dear diminutives.” — Tennyson.