Word.ws English Dictionary

size

/saɪz/

size noun: the dimensions or magnitude of a thing; how big something is. Also the ellipsis of chili size.

Noun (1)

size (countable and uncountable, plural sizes)

  1. The dimensions or magnitude of a thing; how big something is.
    • The size of the building seemed to have increased since I was last there.
    • Ashley: Look at the size of that ship!
      Kaidan: The Ascension. Flagship of the Citadel fleet.
      Joker: Well, size isn't everything.
      Ashley: Why so touchy, Joker?
      Joker: I'm just saying you need firepower, too.2008, BioWare, Mass Effect (Science Fiction), Redwood City: Electronic Arts, →ISBN, →OCLC, PC, scene: Normandy SR-1
  2. A specific set of dimensions for a manufactured article, especially clothing.
    • I don't think we have the red one in your size.
    • What size are you? I mean, what size shoes do you take?
  3. The number of edges in a graph.
  4. (dated, figuratively) Degree of rank, ability, character, etc.
    • men of a less size and quality**1692, Roger L’Estrange, “ (please specify the fable number.) (please specify the name of the fable.)”, in Fables, of Æsop and Other Eminent Mythologists: […], London: […] R[ichard] Sare, […], →OCLC
    • the middle or lower size of people1720, Jonathan Swift, A Letter to a Young Clergyman
  5. An instrument consisting of a number of perforated gauges fastened together at one end by a rivet, used for measuring the size of pearls
    • Edward H[enry] Knight (1877), “Size”, in Knight’s American Mechanical Dictionary. […], volumes III (REA–ZYM), New York, N.Y.: Hurd and Houghton […], →OCLC..
  6. (dialectal, obsolete) An assize.
    • I know you would have women above the law, but it is all a lye; I heard his lordship say at size, that no one is above the law.1749, Henry Fielding, Tom Jones, Folio Society, published 1973, page 560
  7. (obsolete) A regulation, piece of ordinance.
  8. (obsolete) A regulation determining the amount of money paid in fees, taxes etc.
  9. (obsolete) A fixed standard for the magnitude, quality, quantity etc. of goods, especially food and drink.
    • to scant my sizesc. 1603–1606, William Shakespeare, “The Tragedie of King Lear”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount...

Verb (1)

size (third-person singular simple present sizes, present participle sizing, simple past and past participle sized)

  1. (transitive) To adjust the size of; to make a certain size.
    • a statute […] to size weights, and measures1622, Francis, Lord Verulam, Viscount St. Alban [i.e. Francis Bacon], The Historie of the Raigne of King Henry the Seventh, […], London: […] W[illiam] Stansby for Matthew Lownes, and William Barret...
    • I milled all the stock to size, and because it was air-dried, I did it in stages. […] Once the material is sized, it's time to cut the finger joints, which are really the star of the show.2026 August, Logan Wittmer, “Whiskey Cabinet”, in Popular Woodworking, volume 290, number 4, pages 53-54
  2. (transitive) To take the height of men, in order to place them in the ranks according to their stature.
  3. (transitive) To sift (pieces of ore or metal) in order to separate the finer from the coarser parts.
  4. (transitive) To separate different proteins by molecular weight.
    • However, SDS-PAGE consistently sized most of the proteins smaller than the ProteoAnalyzer, resulting in a larger percent difference between the two systems.2024, Agilent Technologies, “Archived copy”, in Protein Sizing with the Agilent ProteoAnalyzer System, archived from the original on 16 Jun 2024
  5. (colloquial, transitive) To approximate the dimensions, estimate the size of.
  6. (intransitive) To take a greater size; to increase in size.
    • after 1633 (first published), John Donne, Farewell to Love
      Our desires give them fashion, and so, / As they wax lesser, fall, as they size, grow.
  7. (UK, obsolete, Cambridge University) To order food or drink from the buttery; hence, to enter a score, as upon the buttery book.
  8. (obsolete, transitive) To swell; to increase the bulk of.
    • 2. Queen.[…]lend us a knee;
      But touch the ground for us no longer time
      Then a Doves motion, when the head's pluckt off:
      ell him if he i'th blood cizd field, lay swolne
      Showing the Sun his Teeth; grinning at the Moone
      What you would doe.1613–1614 (date written), John Fletcher, William Shak[e]speare, The Two Noble Kinsmen: […], London: […] Tho[mas] Cotes, for Iohn Waterson; […], published 1634, →OCLC, Act I, scene i, page 1

Noun (2)

size (countable and uncountable, plural sizes)

  1. A thin, weak glue used as primer for paper or canvas intended to be painted upon.
    • The beginning of a new episode of work for Bradly was an agitated niggling over six-by-four squares of cardboard coated with size and white lead, prepared by himself to save an experimental waste of canvas.1938, Norman Lindsay, Age of Consent, 1st Australian edition, Sydney, N.S.W.: Ure Smith, published 1962, →OCLC, page 40
  2. Wallpaper paste.
  3. The thickened crust on coagulated blood.
  4. Any viscous substance, such as gilder's varnish.

Verb (2)

size (third-person singular simple present sizes, present participle sizing, simple past and past participle sized)

  1. (transitive) To apply glue or other primer to a surface which is to be painted.
  2. (transitive) To apply a thickening agent (such as cornstarch or gelatin) to warp threads to prevent abrasion or unraveling during weaving.
    • After spinning, the singles are either dyed for sale as thread or sized with cornstarch, woven into fabric, and sewn into garments and accessories that are dyed after completion.2026, Elise Young, “Yagaa: Reviving Sericulture in Southern Mexico”, in Spin Off, volume L, number 1, pages 16-17

Also used as

size is also the ellipsis of chili size.

size is also the alternative form of sice.

size meaning in Hindi, Tamil, Marathi and Urdu

size in Hindi

dimensions or magnitude of a thing
आकार ākār, साइज़ sāiz

size in Tamil

அளவு

size in Marathi

आकार, आकारमान

size in Urdu

dimensions or magnitude of a thing
ڈِیل ḍīl, آکار ākār, قَد qad, سائِز sāiz
More languagesFewer languages
size in Bengali
আকার, আয়তন, মাপ
size in Telugu
పరిమాణం, సైజు, పరిమాణము
size in Malayalam
വലിപ്പം, വലുപ്പം
size in Kannada
ಗಾತ್ರ, ಗಾತ್ರದ, ಗಾತ್ರವು
size in Punjabi
ਅਕਾਰ, ਆਕਾਰ, ਸਾਈਜ਼
size in Gujarati
કદ, માપ
size in Odia
ଆକାର, ଆକାରଃ
size in Nepali
आकार
size in Tagalog
sukat
size in Arabic
مَقَاس maqās, قِيَاس qiyās, حَجْم ḥajm
size in Malay
saiz
size in Indonesian
ukuran
size in Thai
ขนาด kà-nàat
size in Vietnamese
kích thước, cỡ, số
size in Myanmar
ဆိုက် hcuik, အရွယ် a.rwai

Examples of size in a sentence

  • The only standard brassiere cup size smaller than the A cup is the AA cup.
  • The function takes two arguments, an array of size n and an integer k.
  • The small shirt doesn't fit me, so I'll buy the medium size.

All 40 example sentences with size

Synonyms of size

All synonyms of size

Forms of size

Noun
pluralsizes
Verb
third-person singular presentsizes
present participlesizing
past participlesized
pastsized

Past tense of size: sized

Plural of size: sizes

Origin of size

Attested since the 14th century, originally meant a “law or regulation that determines the amount to be paid”, from Middle English syse, sise (“regulation, control, limit”), from Old French cise, sise, aphetism of assise (“assize”), from the verb asseoir (“to sit down”), from Latin assidēre, composed of ad- (“to, towards, at”) + sedeō (“sit; settle down”), ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *sed-. Displaced native Old English miċelnes (literally “bigness”).

From Middle English syse, of unclear origin; related to Old Italian sisa (“a glue used by painters”), perhaps ultimately related to size / syse (“amount”), or perhaps shortened from assisa, from assiso (“to make to sit, to seat, to place”)

Words formed from size

Phrases with size

39 more phrasesFewer phrases

Words that rhyme with size

48 more rhymesFewer rhymes

Questions about size

What does size mean?
Size means the dimensions or magnitude of a thing; how big something is.
What is size in Hindi?
Size in Hindi is आकार (ākār), साइज़ (sāiz). See Size meaning in Hindi.
What part of speech is size?
Size can be a noun or a verb.
How do you pronounce size?
Size is pronounced /saɪz/.
What is the plural of size?
The plural of size is sizes.

Words near size in the dictionary

  1. sizal
  2. sizar
  3. sizars
  4. sizarship
  5. sizarships
  6. size
  7. size difference
  8. size differences
  9. size down
  10. size effect
  11. size effects

Source and license

Adapted from Wiktionary: size (page history and authors); size (Tamil, IndicTrans2 machine translation) (model and license); size (Marathi, IndicTrans2 machine translation) (model and license); size (Bengali, IndicTrans2 machine translation) (model and license); size (Telugu, IndicTrans2 machine translation) (model and license); size (Malayalam, IndicTrans2 machine translation) (model and license); size (Kannada, IndicTrans2 machine translation) (model and license); size (Punjabi, IndicTrans2 machine translation) (model and license); size (Gujarati, IndicTrans2 machine translation) (model and license); size (Odia, IndicTrans2 machine translation) (model and license); size (Nepali, IndicTrans2 machine translation) (model and license). Text available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 license. Word.ws reformatted the entry and added links. Wiktionary data of 2026-09-02.

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Pronunciation audio from Wikimedia Commons, each file under its own free license: en-us-size.ogg, LL-Q1860 (eng)-Vealhurl-size.wav.

Cite this entry: “size.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/size. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.