dwarf
Americannoun
-
dwarves,
plural
-
dwarfs
plural
-
a person of abnormally small physical stature resulting from a medical or genetic condition, especially a person with achondroplasia or some other disease that produces disproportion or deformation of features and limbs.
-
an animal or plant much smaller than the average of its kind or species.
- Synonyms:
- runt
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(in folklore) a being in the form of a small, often misshapen man, usually having magic powers.
-
Astronomy. dwarf star.
adjective
verb (used with object)
-
dwarfs,
present (3rd person singular)
-
dwarfed,
past participle, past
-
dwarfing
present participle
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to cause to appear or seem small in size, extent, character, etc., as by being much larger or better.
He dwarfed all his rivals in athletic ability.
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to make dwarf or dwarfish; prevent the due development of.
verb (used without object)
-
dwarfs,
present (3rd person singular)
-
dwarfed,
past participle, past
-
dwarfing
present participle
noun
-
an abnormally undersized person, esp one with a large head and short arms and legs Compare midget
-
-
an animal or plant much below the average height for the species
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( as modifier )
a dwarf tree
-
-
(in folklore) a small ugly manlike creature, often possessing magical powers
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astronomy short for dwarf star
verb
-
to become or cause to become comparatively small in size, importance, etc
-
(tr) to stunt the growth of
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An abnormally small person, often having limbs and features atypically proportioned or formed.
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An atypically small animal or plant.
-
A dwarf star or dwarf galaxy.
Sensitive Note
Is it OK to say dwarf? See midget.
Other Word Forms
Derived Forms
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dwarfishnessnoun
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dwarfnessnoun
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dwarfishadjective
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dwarflikeadjective
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undwarfedadjective
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dwarfishlyadverb
Inflected Forms
Nouns
Participles
Conjugated Forms
Present
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dwarfsimple
-
dwarfssimple
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have dwarfedperfect
-
has dwarfedperfect
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am dwarfingprogressive
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are dwarfingprogressive
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is dwarfingprogressive
-
have been dwarfingperfect progressive
-
has been dwarfingperfect progressive
Past
-
dwarfedsimple
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had dwarfedperfect
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was dwarfingprogressive
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were dwarfingprogressive
-
had been dwarfingperfect progressive
Future
Etymology
Origin of dwarf
First recorded before 900; Middle English dwerf, Old English dweorh; replacing Middle English dwerg, Old English dweorg; cognate with Old High German twerg, Old Norse dvergr
Explanation
An unusually short, small person is sometimes called a dwarf. There are many different genetic medical conditions that can cause a person to be classified as a little person or a dwarf. Some people are offended by dwarf, preferring to be called "little people," "LP," or "people of short stature." The general condition that leads to delayed growth is called "dwarfism." The noun dwarf is also used for an unusually small animal or plant, or as a verb meaning "make something seem very small," as when a new apartment building dwarfs the surrounding houses. The Old English root dweorg referred to a tiny creature from German mythology.
Vocabulary lists containing dwarf
Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
See Examples For:
Whether spreading pigment across the desert floor, choreographing participants into a living drawing or appearing in her own films, Albuquerque brings a human presence into environments whose scale can dwarf it.
From Los Angeles Times ● Oct. 13, 2026
As matter streams from the brown dwarf toward the star, it strikes the stellar surface at high speeds, generating an intensely heated region.
From Science Daily ● Oct. 10, 2026
The team also estimated how quickly the brown dwarf is losing material.
From Science Daily ● Oct. 10, 2026
Material leaving the brown dwarf followed trajectories that carried it directly into the star.
From Science Daily ● Oct. 10, 2026
They still followed the hills along the Ystrad valley, but at midday the dwarf turned west and once more began to descend toward the plains.
From "The Book of Three" by Lloyd Alexander
The newest, a wall-sized 2026 painting in ink on paper, “Ancient Cypress on the Cliff,” by Wang Mansheng, dwarfs a neighboring Southern Song dynasty fan painting depicting a wintry forest in ink on silk.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Oct. 17, 2026
"When we think of stars interacting with planets or brown dwarfs, the picture is always that the star eventually swallows the other thing," says Kevin Burdge, assistant professor of physics at MIT.
From Science Daily ● Oct. 10, 2026
This dwarfs the $130bn of total EU-Canada bilateral trade during the same timeframe.
From BBC ● Sep. 15, 2026
That his residency now dwarfs, in sheer scale, the fight-night masculinity the same building helped crown is not a coincidence I am willing to let pass quietly.
From Salon ● Sep. 6, 2026
“Three of them. The dwarfs will not expect them.”
From "A Dance with Dragons" by George R. R. Martin
The Trump administration has greenlighted its first new bank, and it is a startup that takes its name from a mountain where dwarves stored their treasure in J.R.R.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Feb. 6, 2026
Here, it was pure joy to watch HORA’s actors embrace their inner hobbits, dwarves, wizards, orcs and elves — including one that yodels!
From New York Times ● May 10, 2024
There's also a debate over the fate of the seven dwarves, after unofficial images emerged of what have now been billed as seven "magical creatures".
From BBC ● Aug. 14, 2023
But in the following weeks and then years, I saw an entire country buy into that carnivalesque rhetoric, that bandwagon of "dwarves and dancers," as we said at the time, and bring it into government.
From Salon ● Jun. 18, 2023
Three dwarves came out of different rooms where they had been busy.
From "The Fellowship of the Ring" by J.R.R. Tolkien
Manchester City, once seen as the noisy neighbor dwarfed by Manchester United, had combined financial might with tactical brilliance to turn the established order on its head.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Sep. 29, 2026
It is dwarfed by the passenger ferries in the background.
From BBC ● Sep. 3, 2026
Last summer their gross transfer spend was £71m which was dwarfed by Manchester, City, Chelsea and Arsenal who were all over £200m while Wolves, who finished bottom last season, were £109m.
From BBC ● Aug. 21, 2026
At roughly $250 billion, AstraZeneca’s market capitalization is still dwarfed by such rivals as Eli Lilly and Johnson & Johnson, sitting around $1 trillion and $600 billion, respectively.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 6, 2026
Outside, the skyline has changed: the Park Plaza is no longer the tallest building around, but a squat leftover, dwarfed by the svelte glassy towers that rise around it.
From "Cat's Eye" by Margaret Atwood
While economists view this threshold as largely symbolic, the sheer magnitude is hard to overstate, dwarfing the entire annual output of the U.S. economy.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 20, 2026
The old computer-software index showed prices rising at a record 17% yearly pace, dwarfing any prior increase.
From MarketWatch ● Jul. 22, 2026
There were more than 323 million visits to America’s national parks in 2025, dwarfing attendance — 135 million — at professional football, baseball, basketball and hockey games combined.
From Los Angeles Times ● May 29, 2026
Middleton has spent more than $16 million of his own money on the race so far, dwarfing any of his previous political spending many times over.
From Salon ● May 23, 2026
The United States now has the highest rate of incarceration in the world, dwarfing the rates of nearly every developed country, even surpassing those in highly repressive regimes like Russia, China, and Iran.
From "The New Jim Crow" by Michelle Alexander
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