Lilliputian

[lil-i-pyoo-shuhn]

adjective

1. extremely small; tiny; diminutive.

2. petty; trivial.

   Our worries are Lilliputian when compared with those of people whose nations are at war.

noun

1. an inhabitant of Lilliput.

2. a very small person.

3. a person who is narrow or petty in outlook.

Lilliputian

/ ˌlɪlɪˈpjuːʃɪən /

noun

1. a tiny person or being

adjective

1. tiny; very small

2. petty or trivial

Word History and Origins

Origin of Lilliputian¹

First recorded in 1726; Lilliput + -ian

Word History and Origins

Origin of Lilliputian¹

C18: from Lilliput, an imaginary country of tiny inhabitants in Swift's Gulliver's Travels (1726)

Example Sentences

Nearby are additional puzzling landscapes in which other Lilliputian figures, at times the scale of insects, feel overwhelmed by outsize vegetation.

Read more on The Wall Street Journal

The visual goal, she reminded us: “It’s about being in Lilliputian land — about making your trough believable, a miniature landscape.”

Read more on Seattle Times

Rather, he will go down in history as the leader who broke his country: Vladimir the Lilliputian.

Read more on Seattle Times

Any defenses we’ve built in will be undone, like Gulliver throwing off the tiny strands the Lilliputians used to try and restrain him.

Read more on Scientific American

Purdue, like Virginia, saw its plan and offense undergo a gathering disintegration as the Lilliputian opponent kept gathering mustard.

Read more on Washington Post

Related Words

• diminutive 
• tiny