Noun
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a small amount or duration
"he accepted the little they gave him"
Adjective
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small in a way that arouses feelings (of tenderness or its opposite depending on the context)
"a nice little job"
"bless your little heart"
"my dear little mother"
"a sweet little deal"
"I'm tired of your petty little schemes"
"filthy little tricks"
"what a nasty little situation"
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lowercase
"little a"
"small a"
"e.e.cummings's poetry is written all in minuscule letters"
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low in stature
not tall
"he was short and stocky"
"short in stature"
"a short smokestack"
"a little man"
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(of a voice) faint
"a little voice"
"a still small voice"
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(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"
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(of children and animals) young, immature
"what a big little boy you are"
"small children"
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(quantifier used with mass nouns) small in quantity or degree
not much or almost none or (with `a') at least some
"little rain fell in May"
"gave it little thought"
"little time is left"
"we still have little money"
"a little hope remained"
"there's slight chance that it will work"
"there's a slight chance it will work"
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limited or below average in number or quantity or magnitude or extent
"a little dining room"
"a little house"
"a small car"
"a little (or small) group"
Adverb
-
not much
"he talked little about his family"