Word Study
lilliputian
WORDNET DICTIONARY
Noun lilliputian has 2 senses
- lilliputian(n = noun.person) Array - a very small person (resembling a Lilliputian); Array is a kind of small person
- lilliputian(n = noun.person) Array - a 6-inch tall inhabitant of Lilliput in a novel by Jonathan Swift; Array is a kind of character, fictional character, fictitious character
Derived form adjective lilliputian2
Derived form adjective lilliputian1
Adjective lilliputian has 3 senses
- lilliputian(a = adj.pert) Array - tiny; relating to or characteristic of the imaginary country of Lilliput; "the Lilliputian population" Derived forms noun lilliput1, noun lilliputian2
- lilliputian(s = adj.all) bantam, diminutive, flyspeck, midget, petite, tiny - very small; "diminutive in stature"; "a lilliputian chest of drawers"; "her petite figure"; "tiny feet"; "the flyspeck nation of Bahrain moved toward democracy" Derived form noun lilliputian1
- lilliputian(s = adj.all) fiddling, footling, little, niggling, petty, picayune, piddling, piffling, trivial - (informal) small and of little importance; "a fiddling sum of money"; "a footling gesture"; "our worries are lilliputian compared with those of countries that are at war"; "a little (or small) matter"; "a dispute over niggling details"; "limited to petty enterprises"; "piffling efforts"; "giving a police officer a free meal may be against the law, but it seems to be a picayune infraction"
CIDE DICTIONARY
lilliputian, n.
- One belonging to a very diminutive race described in Swift's “Voyage to Lilliput” or “Gulliver's Travels”. [1913 Webster]
- A person or thing of very small size. [1913 Webster]
lilliputian, a.
- Of or pertaining to the imaginary island of
Lilliput described by Swift, or to its inhabitants. [1913 Webster] - Of very small size; diminutive; insignificant; dwarfed. [1913 Webster]
OXFORD DICTIONARY
lilliputian, n. & adj.
--n. a diminutive person or thing.
--adj. diminutive.
--n. a diminutive person or thing.
--adj. diminutive.
Etymology
Lilliput in Swift's Gulliver's Travels
THESAURUS
lilliputian
Tom Thumb, brownie, dumpy, dwarf, dwarfed, dwarfish, elf, elfin, gnome, homunculus, incipient, manikin, meager, midge, midget, nanoid, peewee, pip-squeak, pygmy, rudimental, rudimentary, runt, runty, scraggy, scrubby, shrimp, shriveled, shrunk, shrunken, squat, stunted, undersize, undersized, wart, wizened
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