Showing results for "dinky"

• a variation of dinkey.

dinky

American  

[ding-kee] / ˈdɪŋ ki /

adjective

dinkier, dinkiest

1. Informal. small, unimportant, unimpressive, or shabby.

   We stayed in a dinky old hotel.

2. British Informal. fashionable; well dressed; smart.

---

noun

dinkies plural

1. dinkey.

dinky British  

/ ˈdɪŋkɪ /

adjective

1. small and neat; dainty

2. inconsequential; insignificant

---

Other Word Forms

Noun Inflected Forms

• dinkies
  plural

Etymology

Origin of dinky

1780–90; compare Scots dink neatly dressed, trim (of obscure origin); sense shift perhaps: trim > dainty > small > insignificant; see -y ¹

Explanation

Something that's dinky is very small or unimportant. A college freshmen might be shocked at how dinky her dorm room is. You might live in a dinky apartment or sit down to a child's tea party, sipping out of dinky, doll-sized tea cups. Dinky, meaning "tiny," is often used to complain about the smallness or insignificance of something: "All I get is this dinky slice of cake, after I helped you bake it?" Other meanings include a small metal model of a car and a little train car. It comes from the Scottish dink, "trim" or "neat."

Example Sentences

See Examples For:

dinky dinkies dinkier dinkiest

"Some of them are really quite small and dinky if you like, so they might be some of the younger beavers that have been doing that."

From BBC ● Jul. 1, 2026

But in this reversal of fortune, he is the largest opponent, taking it upon himself to defend a dinky innocent from a herd of hunters dwarfed by his size but much larger than the cricket.

From Salon ● Feb. 1, 2026

Foy notes that he gets the biggest spuds he can source: “I don’t give out dinky potatoes,” he said.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Oct. 30, 2025

There will be dozens of other dinky parochial interests from individual members to tend to as well, but that’s standard.

From Slate ● May 17, 2025

Poppy pulled a handful of dinky loose change from his pocket and dropped it on the ground in front of three boys.

From "Habibi" by Naomi Shihab Nye

As a child Mr Kinchen was bought a couple of pre-war dinkies as a child, which sparked his enthusiasm for the miniature vehicles, Mr Motley said.

From BBC ● Jun. 14, 2016

I saw two lads in little dinkies like that one yonder, fishing over by the long island, and guessed that possibly they belonged to your party.”

From Motor Boat Boys on the St. Lawrence by Arundel, Louis

Gently the paddle was wielded, and the little “punkin-seed of a boat,” as the boys sometimes termed the dinkies, was noiselessly wafted shoreward.

From Motor Boat Boys on the St. Lawrence by Arundel, Louis

The fruits of that success are a newly discovered asteroid—an even dinkier Dinky, as it were—and a host of puzzles to solve.

From Scientific American ● Nov. 3, 2023

The big outer space effects shots of “USS Callister” look professional-grade, and not even relative to TV’s dinkier standards.

From The Verge ● Oct. 9, 2017

"I don't know which is the dinkier," she observed finally, "—owning a few little acres and the team you're driving, or not owning any acres and driving a team somebody else owns for wages."

From The Valley of the Moon by London, Jack

Joe Montana’s shoulder pads were the dinkiest you’ve ever seen.

From Los Angeles Times ● Oct. 19, 2019

In fact, I found out since then that it really was a garage once, until somebody changed it into the world’s dinkiest house.

From "Crash" by Jerry Spinelli

These were the dinkiest owls that Officer Delinko had.ever seen—only eight or nine inches tall.

From "Hoot" by Carl Hiaasen

Oh! there’s the dinkiest little baby with a brown face.

From The Island Mystery by Birmingham, George A.