tiny

adjective ti·ny \ ˈtī-nē \

|Updated on: 8 Jun 2018

Tip: Synonym Guide

Examples: tiny in a Sentence

Definition of tiny

tinier; tiniest

: very small or diminutive : minute

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tinily

play \ˈtī-nə-lē\ adverb

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tininess

play \ˈtī-nē-nəs\ noun

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Examples of tiny in a Sentence

The computer chips were tiny.
He's from a tiny town that you've probably never heard of.
There's just one tiny little problem.
Aren't you even a tiny bit scared?

Recent Examples of tiny from the Web

When Ice Cube goes to pour milk into the oversized bowl of sugary cereal, only a tiny splash comes out of the carton.

— gerrick d. kennedy, latimes.com, "Inside Ice Cube's return to 'Friday'," 5 June 2018
For The Atavist, Matthew Hongoltz-Hetling traces the origins of this tiny town’s highly independent nature and its tense relationship with wildlife.

— aaron gilbreath, Longreads, "Small-Town New Hampshire’s Battle with Bears and Liberty," 5 June 2018
The eureka moment worked, with the tiny symbol helping to imprint the brand name on consumer tastes.

— kate gibson, CBS News, "Kate Spade began with a simple wish: An unfussy handbag," 5 June 2018
Gibson’s 1968 is one of only a very tiny handful of pitcher’s seasons with an ERA+ above 250.

— emma baccellieri, SI.com, "The Unprecedented Brilliance of Justin Verlander," 5 June 2018
The glacier itself spanned some 11 square kilometers—tiny as glaciers go.

— gloria dickie, WIRED, "Humans Tracked Iceland's Glaciers For Ages. Now, Tech Does," 5 June 2018
And even that news got only a tiny fraction of the Roseanne coverage.

— Fox News, "Roseanne critics target Trump," 4 June 2018
Image After more than three decades managing Starbucks’s growth from a tiny local chain into a global coffee giant, and wading into touchy political topics along the way, Howard D. Schultz is leaving the company.

— New York Times, "Howard Schultz at Starbucks: Coffee, Activism and Controversy," 4 June 2018
In the end, Donald Trump couldn’t stand the thought of another tiny crowd.

— marcus hayes, Philly.com, "Trump dumps Eagles because, to him, size matters | Marcus Hayes," 4 June 2018

These example sentences are selected automatically from various online news sources to reflect current usage of the word 'tiny.' Views expressed in the examples do not represent the opinion of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback.

Origin and Etymology of tiny

alteration of Middle English tine

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First Known Use: 1598

in the meaning defined above

See Words from the same year

tiny Synonyms

Synonym Discussion of tiny

small, little, diminutive, minute, tiny, miniature mean noticeably below average in size. small and little are often interchangeable, but small applies more to relative size determined by capacity, value, number.