dinky

[ding-kee]

See more synonyms for dinky on Thesaurus.com

adjective, dink·i·er, dink·i·est.

Informal. small, unimportant, unimpressive, or shabby: We stayed in a dinky old hotel.
British Informal. fashionable; well dressed; smart.

noun, plural dink·ies.

dinkey.

Origin of dinky

1780–90; compare Scots dink neatly dressed, trim (of obscure origin); sense shift perhaps: trim > dainty > small > insignificant; see -y¹

dinkey

or dink·y

[ding-kee]

noun, plural dink·eys.

a small locomotive, especially with a switch engine.

Origin of dinkey

1840–50; noun use of dinky; see -ey²

Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2018

Related Words for dinky

trim, petite, miniature, dainty, Lilliputian, minor, secondary, mini, bush-league, insignificant, lesser, neat, small-time, minor-league

Examples from the Web for dinky

Contemporary Examples of dinky

You think that this tragedy has given you an opportunity to catapult you [sic] dinky blog and newspaper to new heights.
The Missing Murder Suspect
Rick Outzen
July 31, 2009

Historical Examples of dinky

And the speed229 he gets out of that dinky little roadster is amazin'.
Torchy and Vee
Sewell Ford
The dinky engine, with its train of flat-cars, was steaming toward him.
'Firebrand' Trevison
Charles Alden Seltzer
"That's my dinky little religion, dear old Miss Hamilton," said Bones.
The Keepers of the King's Peace
Edgar Wallace
I know you can kill that hawk up there; but not with that dinky little thing.
The Trail Boys on the Plains
Jay Winthrop Allen
I know more about artillery than half their dinky West Pointers.
The Wasted Generation
Owen Johnson

British Dictionary definitions for dinky

dinky

adjective dinkier or dinkiest informal

British small and neat; dainty
US inconsequential; insignificant

Word Origin for dinky

C18 (in the sense: dainty): from dink

Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012

Word Origin and History for dinky

adj.

1788 "neat, trim, dainty, small," from Scottish dialectal dink "finely dressed, trim" (c.1500), of unknown origin. Modern sense is 1850s.