often attributive
1
sometimes offensive
: a person of unusually small stature (see stature sense 1)
especially
: a person whose height does not exceed 4' 10" and is typically less than 4' 5"
2
: an animal or plant much below normal size
3
folklore
: a small legendary manlike being who is usually misshapen and ugly and skilled as a craftsman
4
astronomy
: a celestial object of comparatively small mass or size: such as
a
: a star of ordinary or low luminosity
The outer layers of a swollen elderly red giant star were pouring onto the photosphere of a vigorous … yellow dwarf, something like the Sun.—Carl Sagan
compare giant sense 4, supergiant
b
: a galaxy containing a relatively low number of stars
Harlow Shapley discovered the first examples of dwarf satellite galaxies in 1938, one in the constellation Sculptor and one in Fornax.—Astronomy
5
: an insignificant person
a literary dwarf
dwarfishly
adverb
dwarfishness
noun
dwarfed; dwarfing; dwarfs
1
: to cause to appear smaller or to seem inferior
dwarfed by his older brother
has dwarfed the achievements of her predecessors
2
: to restrict the growth of : stunt
children dwarfed by malnutrition
: to become smaller
of a plant
: low-growing in habit
a dwarf peach tree
dwarfer forms of citrus
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Merriam-Webster unabridged
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