littlenessn.

Brit.

/ˈlɪtlnəs/, U.S.

/ˈlɪd(ə)lnᵻs/

Forms: see little adj., pron., n., and adv. and -ness suffix.

Origin: Formed within English, by derivation. Etymons: little adj., -ness suffix.

Etymology: < little adj. + -ness suffix.

The quality or state of being little.

1. Smallness of size, quantity, amount, bulk, stature, degree, or extent.

ΘΚΠ

the world > relative properties > quantity > smallness of quantity, amount, or degree > [noun]

littlenessOE

littleheadc1350

paucity?a1425

smallness?1532

slenderness?1542

exiguity1604

fewness1617

lowness1708

slightness1747

exiguousness1888

the world > space > extension in space > measurable spatial extent > smallness > [noun]

littlenessOE

ungreatc1275

littleheadc1350

smallnessa1398

littlelaikc1450

exiguity1604

pusillage1610

parvity1620

parvitude1652

petitenessa1676

exiguousness1727

exility1779

toydom1882

weeness1882

OE Ælfric Gram. (St. John's Oxf.) 228 Sume syndon qvantitatis, ða getacniað mycelnysse oððe lytelnesse.

a1398 J. Trevisa tr. Bartholomaeus Anglicus De Proprietatibus Rerum (BL Add. 27944) (1975) I. xiii. xxvi. 682 Affocus is a litil fysshe and for litilnesse he may noȝt be ytake with hoke.

?a1425 tr. Guy de Chauliac Grande Chirurgie (N.Y. Acad. Med.) f. 142^v Somtyme forsoþ þai haue ouerhabundaunce of milke, Somtyme litilnez [L. paucitatem], of which treteþ phisicienz.

a1525 Crying ane Playe 83 in W. A. Craigie Asloan MS (1925) II. 152 Ffor litilness scho was forlorne Sic a kempe to beire.

1526 W. Bonde Pylgrimage of Perfection ii. sig. Rii His vylenes, lytelnes, or other deformite of nature.

?1574 C. Vitell tr. ‘Elidad’ Good & Fruitfull Exhort. Famelie of Loue sig. A8 Haue also Compassion with eueryones Ignoraunce or Littlenes of Vnderstandinge.

1642 T. Fuller Holy State ii. ix. 86 Those of unusuall littlenesse are made ladies dwarfs.

1655 T. Fuller Hist. Univ. Cambr. v. 83 in Church-hist. Brit. Lowness of endowment, and littlensse [sic] of Receit, is all can be cavilled at in this foundation.

a1667 A. Cowley in Ess. in Verse & Prose (1674) 121 I confess, I love Littleness almost in all things, A little convenient Estate, a little chearful House, a little Company, and a very little Feast.

1726 J. Swift Gulliver I. ii. viii. 163 Observing the Littleness of the Houses, the Trees, the Cattle and the People, I began to think my self in Lilliput.

1743 E. Purefoy Let. 27 Nov. in G. Eland Purefoy Lett. (1931) II. xii. 311 When you came to draw them on they came to the same littlenesse as they were before they were stretched.

1823 T. Chalmers Serm. St. John's Church, Glasgow iv. 135 Contrast the littleness of time, with the greatness of eternity..and tell me which plays the higher game.

1883 Harper's Mag. Nov. 902/1 A marvellous littleness of hand and foot.

1918 Stars & Stripes 8 Feb. 8/5 ‘Well, doggone!’ says Fat, in wonderment at the littleness of the world.

1934 A. L. Wheeler Catullus & Trad. Anc. Poetry ii. 57 Many of the terms applied to such poems emphasize their ‘littleness’: versiculi, ‘little verses’.

2007 S. Yao Singapore viii. 173 The littleness of Singapore—the littleness of geographical size and population.

a. Lack of greatness, grandeur, or importance; insignificance, triviality, pettiness; smallness of mind.

ΘΚΠ

the mind > attention and judgement > contempt > ignobleness or baseness > [noun]

villainyc1386

simplessea1393

littlenessa1400

unnoblenessc1400

unnobilitya1425

unnobletya1425

ignoblenessc1450

ignobility?a1475

vileness1549

vilityc1550

haskardy?1578

dunghillry1581

indignity1589

beggarya1616

ignoblesse?1616

poorness1625

lowness1652

meanness1660

society > morality > moral evil > evil nature or character > lack of magnanimity or noble-mindedness > [noun]

littlenessa1400

unkindnessc1400

uncharitableness1544

uncharity1548

incharity1586

poorness1625

strait-heartedness1646

meanness1660

incharitableness1679

ungenerosity1757

ungenerousness1757

smallness1813

the mind > attention and judgement > importance > unimportance > [noun] > paltriness, meanness, or contempt > smallness of mind

littlenessa1400

slenderness?1542

pettiness1581

pettiship1581

pusillitya1620

petty-mindedness1853

naggle1865

puniness1871

chickenshit1944

a1400 Psalter (Harl.) liv. 8 in C. Horstmann Yorkshire Writers (1896) II. 185 (MED) Litelnes [Vesp. I abade him þat sauf me made Fra littelhed of gast].

a1425 (c1395) Bible (Wycliffite, L.V.) (Royal) (1850) Psalms liv. 9 I abood hym, that made me saaf fro the litilnesse [L. pusillanimitate], ether drede, of spirit.

c1440 Prose Life Alexander (Thornton) (1913) 36 Vs byhouez..namare despisse Alexander..For his littillnes waxes, and oure gretnes decressez.

1502 tr. Ordynarye of Crysten Men (de Worde) ii. i. sig. h.vi^v Knowynge the lytylnes & fraylte of humayne nature.

1658 R. Flecknoe Enigmaticall Characters 124 He speaks of every thing in the superlative, shewing the littlenesse of his minde, by counting all thing so great.

1694 R. South 12 Serm. II. Ep. Ded. sig. A2^v If the supposed Littleness of these matters should be a sufficient Reason for the laying them aside.

1710 R. Steele Tatler No. 197. ⁋4 There is a Sort of Littleness in the Minds of Men of wrong Sense.

1779 F. Burney Let. 25 Oct. in Early Jrnls. & Lett. (1994) III. 395 Mrs. Thrale..is so enraged with him for his littleness of soul in this respect.

1822 W. Hazlitt Table-talk (1869) 2nd Ser. iii. 78 Littleness is their element, and they give a character of meanness to whatever they touch.

1873 L. Stephen in Cornhill Mag. Oct. 459 The mountains..speak to man of his littleness and his ephemeral existence.

1896 W. Ward Talks with Tennyson in New Rev. July 81 Contemptuousness..was, he said, a sure sign of intellectual littleness.

1936 Z. N. Hurston Let. 30 July in Life in Lett. (2002) 384 I can afford to laugh at them, of course, but their littleness is astounding.

1984 E. de Waal Seeking God vii. 99 Benedictine life is earthed essentially in its ordinariness and its littleness.

2010 S. Popper Day of Transformation iii. 39 Giant concrete murals of many of the Saviour-King's famous victories in battle faced outwards from every side of the building, forcing citizens to confront the littleness of their lives and achievements when compared to the Saviour-King's.

b. An instance of this; a mean, petty quality or action.

ΘΚΠ

the mind > attention and judgement > contempt > ignobleness or baseness > [noun] > instance or act of

littleness1622

meanness1683

menialism1832

society > morality > moral evil > evil nature or character > lack of magnanimity or noble-mindedness > [noun] > instance of

littleness1622

meanness1683

menialism1832

1622 F. Rous Dis. of Time xvii. 386 Surely these minutes of stile, and littlenesses in discoursing, doe not well expresse Maiesty and Power.

1664 N. Ingelo Bentivolio & Urania: 2nd Pt. iv. 194 Neither are our minds troubled with those Limitations and Littlenesses which we meet with in our preception of other things.

1735 J. Burton Acct. Life Author p. xlvi, in J. Rogers 19 Serm. He was so much above many fashionable Littlenesses, that, some..have thought him a proud Man.

a1797 H. Walpole Mem. George II (1822) II. 445 One of those vainglorious littlenesses which too often entered into his composition.

1832 T. Carlyle in Fraser's Mag. Apr. 254/2 Pitiful Littlenesses as we are.

1859 Ld. Tennyson Idylls Ded. 25 Wearing the white flower of a blameless life, Before a thousand peering littlenesses.

1865 C. Merivale Hist. Romans under Empire (new ed.) VIII. lxiii. 66 The greatness of their general character overshadowed their littlenesses.

1891 R. Kipling Light that Failed vii. 126 Surely you ought to have left a littleness like that behind you, years ago.

1926 H. Allen Toward Flame x. 154 All the filth and littlenesses of that vast experience of war passed him by like the unremembered faces on the street.

1966 A. L. Rowse Bosworth Field ii. 25 If a king was more than a man then he had to rise above human littlenesses and weakness.

1996 M. Drabble Witch of Exmoor 148 She surveyed the panorama of history and the follies and littlenesses of man with a divine indifference.

This entry has been updated (OED Third Edition, September 2014; most recently modified version published online March 2022).

单词	littleness
释义	littlenessn. Brit. /ˈlɪtlnəs/, U.S. /ˈlɪd(ə)lnᵻs/ Forms: see little adj., pron., n., and adv. and -ness suffix. Origin: Formed within English, by derivation. Etymons: little adj., -ness suffix. Etymology: < little adj. + -ness suffix. The quality or state of being little. 1. Smallness of size, quantity, amount, bulk, stature, degree, or extent. ΘΚΠ the world > relative properties > quantity > smallness of quantity, amount, or degree > [noun] littlenessOE littleheadc1350 paucity?a1425 smallness?1532 slenderness?1542 exiguity1604 fewness1617 lowness1708 slightness1747 exiguousness1888 the world > space > extension in space > measurable spatial extent > smallness > [noun] littlenessOE ungreatc1275 littleheadc1350 smallnessa1398 littlelaikc1450 exiguity1604 pusillage1610 parvity1620 parvitude1652 petitenessa1676 exiguousness1727 exility1779 toydom1882 weeness1882 OE Ælfric Gram. (St. John's Oxf.) 228 Sume syndon qvantitatis, ða getacniað mycelnysse oððe lytelnesse. a1398 J. Trevisa tr. Bartholomaeus Anglicus De Proprietatibus Rerum (BL Add. 27944) (1975) I. xiii. xxvi. 682 Affocus is a litil fysshe and for litilnesse he may noȝt be ytake with hoke. ?a1425 tr. Guy de Chauliac Grande Chirurgie (N.Y. Acad. Med.) f. 142^v Somtyme forsoþ þai haue ouerhabundaunce of milke, Somtyme litilnez [L. paucitatem], of which treteþ phisicienz. a1525 Crying ane Playe 83 in W. A. Craigie Asloan MS (1925) II. 152 Ffor litilness scho was forlorne Sic a kempe to beire. 1526 W. Bonde Pylgrimage of Perfection ii. sig. Rii His vylenes, lytelnes, or other deformite of nature. ?1574 C. Vitell tr. ‘Elidad’ Good & Fruitfull Exhort. Famelie of Loue sig. A8 Haue also Compassion with eueryones Ignoraunce or Littlenes of Vnderstandinge. 1642 T. Fuller Holy State ii. ix. 86 Those of unusuall littlenesse are made ladies dwarfs. 1655 T. Fuller Hist. Univ. Cambr. v. 83 in Church-hist. Brit. Lowness of endowment, and littlensse [sic] of Receit, is all can be cavilled at in this foundation. a1667 A. Cowley in Ess. in Verse & Prose (1674) 121 I confess, I love Littleness almost in all things, A little convenient Estate, a little chearful House, a little Company, and a very little Feast. 1726 J. Swift Gulliver I. ii. viii. 163 Observing the Littleness of the Houses, the Trees, the Cattle and the People, I began to think my self in Lilliput. 1743 E. Purefoy Let. 27 Nov. in G. Eland Purefoy Lett. (1931) II. xii. 311 When you came to draw them on they came to the same littlenesse as they were before they were stretched. 1823 T. Chalmers Serm. St. John's Church, Glasgow iv. 135 Contrast the littleness of time, with the greatness of eternity..and tell me which plays the higher game. 1883 Harper's Mag. Nov. 902/1 A marvellous littleness of hand and foot. 1918 Stars & Stripes 8 Feb. 8/5 ‘Well, doggone!’ says Fat, in wonderment at the littleness of the world. 1934 A. L. Wheeler Catullus & Trad. Anc. Poetry ii. 57 Many of the terms applied to such poems emphasize their ‘littleness’: versiculi, ‘little verses’. 2007 S. Yao Singapore viii. 173 The littleness of Singapore—the littleness of geographical size and population. 2. a. Lack of greatness, grandeur, or importance; insignificance, triviality, pettiness; smallness of mind. ΘΚΠ the mind > attention and judgement > contempt > ignobleness or baseness > [noun] villainyc1386 simplessea1393 littlenessa1400 unnoblenessc1400 unnobilitya1425 unnobletya1425 ignoblenessc1450 ignobility?a1475 vileness1549 vilityc1550 haskardy?1578 dunghillry1581 indignity1589 beggarya1616 ignoblesse?1616 poorness1625 lowness1652 meanness1660 society > morality > moral evil > evil nature or character > lack of magnanimity or noble-mindedness > [noun] littlenessa1400 unkindnessc1400 uncharitableness1544 uncharity1548 incharity1586 poorness1625 strait-heartedness1646 meanness1660 incharitableness1679 ungenerosity1757 ungenerousness1757 smallness1813 the mind > attention and judgement > importance > unimportance > [noun] > paltriness, meanness, or contempt > smallness of mind littlenessa1400 slenderness?1542 pettiness1581 pettiship1581 pusillitya1620 petty-mindedness1853 naggle1865 puniness1871 chickenshit1944 a1400 Psalter (Harl.) liv. 8 in C. Horstmann Yorkshire Writers (1896) II. 185 (MED) Litelnes [Vesp. I abade him þat sauf me made Fra littelhed of gast]. a1425 (c1395) Bible (Wycliffite, L.V.) (Royal) (1850) Psalms liv. 9 I abood hym, that made me saaf fro the litilnesse [L. pusillanimitate], ether drede, of spirit. c1440 Prose Life Alexander (Thornton) (1913) 36 Vs byhouez..namare despisse Alexander..For his littillnes waxes, and oure gretnes decressez. 1502 tr. Ordynarye of Crysten Men (de Worde) ii. i. sig. h.vi^v Knowynge the lytylnes & fraylte of humayne nature. 1658 R. Flecknoe Enigmaticall Characters 124 He speaks of every thing in the superlative, shewing the littlenesse of his minde, by counting all thing so great. 1694 R. South 12 Serm. II. Ep. Ded. sig. A2^v If the supposed Littleness of these matters should be a sufficient Reason for the laying them aside. 1710 R. Steele Tatler No. 197. ⁋4 There is a Sort of Littleness in the Minds of Men of wrong Sense. 1779 F. Burney Let. 25 Oct. in Early Jrnls. & Lett. (1994) III. 395 Mrs. Thrale..is so enraged with him for his littleness of soul in this respect. 1822 W. Hazlitt Table-talk (1869) 2nd Ser. iii. 78 Littleness is their element, and they give a character of meanness to whatever they touch. 1873 L. Stephen in Cornhill Mag. Oct. 459 The mountains..speak to man of his littleness and his ephemeral existence. 1896 W. Ward Talks with Tennyson in New Rev. July 81 Contemptuousness..was, he said, a sure sign of intellectual littleness. 1936 Z. N. Hurston Let. 30 July in Life in Lett. (2002) 384 I can afford to laugh at them, of course, but their littleness is astounding. 1984 E. de Waal Seeking God vii. 99 Benedictine life is earthed essentially in its ordinariness and its littleness. 2010 S. Popper Day of Transformation iii. 39 Giant concrete murals of many of the Saviour-King's famous victories in battle faced outwards from every side of the building, forcing citizens to confront the littleness of their lives and achievements when compared to the Saviour-King's. b. An instance of this; a mean, petty quality or action. ΘΚΠ the mind > attention and judgement > contempt > ignobleness or baseness > [noun] > instance or act of littleness1622 meanness1683 menialism1832 society > morality > moral evil > evil nature or character > lack of magnanimity or noble-mindedness > [noun] > instance of littleness1622 meanness1683 menialism1832 1622 F. Rous Dis. of Time xvii. 386 Surely these minutes of stile, and littlenesses in discoursing, doe not well expresse Maiesty and Power. 1664 N. Ingelo Bentivolio & Urania: 2nd Pt. iv. 194 Neither are our minds troubled with those Limitations and Littlenesses which we meet with in our preception of other things. 1735 J. Burton Acct. Life Author p. xlvi, in J. Rogers 19 Serm. He was so much above many fashionable Littlenesses, that, some..have thought him a proud Man. a1797 H. Walpole Mem. George II (1822) II. 445 One of those vainglorious littlenesses which too often entered into his composition. 1832 T. Carlyle in Fraser's Mag. Apr. 254/2 Pitiful Littlenesses as we are. 1859 Ld. Tennyson Idylls Ded. 25 Wearing the white flower of a blameless life, Before a thousand peering littlenesses. 1865 C. Merivale Hist. Romans under Empire (new ed.) VIII. lxiii. 66 The greatness of their general character overshadowed their littlenesses. 1891 R. Kipling Light that Failed vii. 126 Surely you ought to have left a littleness like that behind you, years ago. 1926 H. Allen Toward Flame x. 154 All the filth and littlenesses of that vast experience of war passed him by like the unremembered faces on the street. 1966 A. L. Rowse Bosworth Field ii. 25 If a king was more than a man then he had to rise above human littlenesses and weakness. 1996 M. Drabble Witch of Exmoor 148 She surveyed the panorama of history and the follies and littlenesses of man with a divine indifference. This entry has been updated (OED Third Edition, September 2014; most recently modified version published online March 2022). < n.OE
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