Word.ws English Dictionary

smaller

Syllables: small·erUK/ˈsmɔː.lə//ˈsmɔ.lɚ/

smaller is the comparative form of small.

Meaning of small

Adjective

small (comparative smaller, superlative smallest)

  1. Not large or big; insignificant; few in number.
    • A small serving of ice cream.
    1. Humiliated or insignificant.
      • The bullies had succeeded in making him feel small.
    2. Having a small penis, muscles, or other important body parts, regardless of overall body size.
      • (of genitals)
  2. (figuratively, not comparable) Young, as a child.
    • Remember when the children were small?
    Synonyms:
    little, wee, young
    Antonyms:
    adult, grown-up, old
  3. (not comparable) Minuscule or lowercase, referring to written or printed letters.
    • "I've got catholic tastes. Catholic with a small "c", of course."1959, Anthony Burgess, Beds in the East (The Malayan Trilogy), published 1972, page 584
    Synonyms:
    lowercase, minuscule
  4. Evincing little worth or ability; not large-minded; paltry; mean.
    • A true delineation of the smallest man is capable of interesting the greatest man.1851, Thomas Carlyle, The Life of John Sterling

See all 21 meanings of small

Phrases with smaller

Words that rhyme with smaller

Questions about smaller

What is smaller the comparative form of?
Smaller is the comparative form of small.
How do you pronounce smaller?
Smaller is pronounced /ˈsmɔː.lə/ (UK).

Words near smaller in the dictionary

  1. smalled
  2. smallen
  3. smallened
  4. smallening
  5. smallens
  6. smaller
  7. smaller European elm bark beetle
  8. smaller European elm bark beetles
  9. smaller-grained
  10. smaller-scale
  11. smaller-sized

Source and license

Adapted from Wiktionary: smaller (page history and authors); small (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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Pronunciation audio from Wikimedia Commons, each file under its own free license: en-us-smaller.ogg.

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