small-minded
Americanadjective
adjective
Other Word Forms
Etymology
Origin of small-minded
First recorded in 1840–50
Explanation
Someone who's small-minded has a narrow perspective or very firm, unchangeable opinions on things. It's almost impossible to get a small-minded voter to change his or her mind. If you're small-minded, you have a biased view of the world, and you're probably not very tolerant of those with different opinions or experiences. It's as if small-minded people can't step outside their own perspective to empathize with others. A small-minded governor might want to keep all immigrants out of his state, and someone with a small-minded focus on money won't understand your dream of being a poet.
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.
In Mohit’s telling, Laxman seems merely grubby and small-minded.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Mar. 11, 2026
“I love it. It’s gorgeous. I mean, I don’t like the small-minded people that live here. Narrow-minded, narrow boys’ club.
From Slate ● Oct. 26, 2024
Part of what makes “Civil War” so powerful is how plausible it is, depicting people in rare moments at their best but more often at their worst, riven by self-interest and small-minded fears.
From Los Angeles Times ● Apr. 12, 2024
Speaking ahead of his appearance, he said he wanted to show people he was not "mean-spirited, small-minded, nasty".
From BBC ● Nov. 13, 2023
It was a small-minded and ludicrous insult, sure, but his mocking of my intellect, his marginalizing of my young self, carried with it a larger dismissiveness.
From "Becoming" by Michelle Obama
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
