small-cap

American

[smawl-kap] / ˈsmɔlˈkæp /

adjective

designating a company, or a mutual fund that invests in companies, with a market capitalization of under $1 billion: considered to have more growth potential and higher investment risk.

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.

Small stocks’ performance was also outsize following the 1929 crash and the 1973-1974 Arab Oil Embargo using a different small-cap index.

From The Wall Street Journal • Mar. 26, 2026

The small-cap benchmark has been a canary in a coal mine ahead of U.S. recessions, but one also prone to dying of natural causes.

From The Wall Street Journal • Mar. 26, 2026

John W. Rogers Jr. remains bullish on small-cap stocks, expecting numerous mergers.

From Barron's • Mar. 19, 2026

“This topping pattern is evident in the slowing momentum of the S&P 500 index in the past five months, the steady increase in volatility, and the underlying rotation towards small-cap and value stocks,” Deluard noted.

From MarketWatch • Mar. 9, 2026

Outsourcing news bulletins to India also allows Reuters to extend the breadth of its reporting to more small-cap companies, companies it was not cost-efficient for Reuters to follow before with higher-paid journalists in New York.

From "The World Is Flat" by Thomas L. Friedman

Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023