HOW TO PRONOUNCE
little
/ˈlɪtəl/
Press play to hear how to pronounce little.
American Pronunciation Guide · 0:47
Watch on YouTube ↗
Watch on YouTube ↗
What does little mean?
adjective
- Small, not large, limited, particularly
- Small, limited in size.
- Short, limited in extent.
More meanings (24)
adjective
- Brief, limited in duration.
- Young, limited in growth.
- Younger, regardless of size or height.
- Undeveloped or underdeveloped, limited in development, particularly (offensive, of a male) in the genitals.
- Small, limited in number, having few members.
- Insignificant, trivial, limited in importance.
- Denoting a neighborhood whose residents or storekeepers are from that place.
- (figuratively) Independent, limited in scale, especially contrasted with well-organized and well-capitalized cartels controlling most of an industry, market, etc.
- (offensive) Weak, inferior, unimportant, etc., used to belittle a person.
- (derogatory) Used with the name of a place to imply that the inhabitants have an insular attitude and are hostile to those they perceive as foreign.
- (derogatory) Mean, selfish, bigoted, etc., limited in spirit.
adverb
- Not much.
- Not at all.
determiner
- Not much, only a little: only a small amount (of).
pronoun
- Not much; not a large amount.
noun
- A small amount.
- (informal) A child, particularly an infant.
- A newly initiated member of a sorority or fraternity, who is mentored by a big.
- The participant who acts out the younger role.
- One who has mentally age regressed to a childlike state.
- Ellipsis of little go (“type of examination”).
proper noun
- A characteristical surname.
- An unincorporated community in Breathitt County, Kentucky, United States, named after the local Little family.
- An unincorporated community in Tyler County, West Virginia, United States.
Definitions regrouped for readability · CC BY-SA 4.0
IPA pronunciation
/ˈlɪtəl/
CMU Pronouncing Dictionary ↗Pronunciation varies by speaker and region. About these dictionary pronunciations.
In the pages of books
See this word in context.
She felt very curious to know what it was all about, and crept a little way out of the wood to listen.
A moment after the fairy’s entrance the window was blown open by the breathing of the little stars, and Peter dropped in.
More book examples (3)
It is to little purpose to say, that a neglect or omission of this kind would not be likely to take place.
She was a dark child, with brown curly hair, like a brunette doll’s, a coaxing little red mouth, and round, yellow-brown eyes.
“I have a nice snug little farm,” said Gabriel, with half a degree less assurance than when he had seized her hand.