Word.ws English Dictionary

small world

small world is the ellipsis of it's a small world.

Meaning of it's a small world

Phrase

it's a small world

  1. Used to express surprise at meeting an acquaintance or discovering a personal connection in a distant place or an unexpected context.
    • “I have met my young photographer,” said De Stancy, cheerily. “What a small world it is, as every busybody truly observes! I am wishing he could take some views for us as we go on; but you have no apparatus with you, I suppose, Mr. Dare?”1880–1881, Thomas Hardy, chapter I, in A Laodicean; or, The Castle of the De Stancys. A Story of To-day. […], volume III, London: Sampson Low, Marston, Searle & Rivington, […], published 1881, →OCLC...

Questions about small world

What is small world the ellipsis of?
Small world is the ellipsis of it's a small world.

Words near small world in the dictionary

  1. small unmarked bills
  2. small white
  3. small whites
  4. small wonder
  5. small words
  6. small world
  7. Small Yard, High Fence
  8. small, unmarked bills
  9. small-billed tinamou
  10. small-billed tinamous
  11. small-bore

Source and license

Adapted from Wiktionary: small world (page history and authors); it's a small world (page history and authors). 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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