wee
Americanadjective
-
little; very small.
- Synonyms:
- minuscule, diminutive, tiny
-
very early.
in the wee hours of the morning.
noun
verb
adjective
noun
Etymology
Origin of wee
before 1150 for an earlier sense; Middle English we, variant of wei (small) quantity, Old English wēg, Anglian form of wǣge weight, akin to wegan to weigh 1
Vocabulary lists containing wee
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.
See Examples For:
Weak and tired, Jackie was scooped up from the north shore of Big Bear Lake in the wee hours of Saturday by a team from the San Dimas Raptor Rescue.
From Los Angeles Times ● Jul. 24, 2026
In the wee hours of Sunday, Herambh Karmarkar’s wife received two messages from her seafarer husband, who was aboard a ship that had just safely crossed the Strait of Hormuz.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jul. 18, 2026
"Chile needs to grow and this bill makes it possible," Finance Minister Jorge Quiroz said after the chamber approved the reforms in the wee hours of Thursday.
From Barron's ● Jul. 16, 2026
"It's not just our wee river, it's all over the country, when you hear 50,000 fish killed, I think it's an absolute disgrace," Scullion said.
From BBC ● Jul. 14, 2026
“Brigid says to tell you she’s feeling a wee bit poorly this morning. You are not to worry.”
From "Lyddie" by Katherine Paterson
“When it used to be to the boy,” continued Sim, mimicking the other’s very slow drawling speech: “‘Joey, wilt thou bring me another brick?’ and then thou used to groan because it weer so heavy.”
From The Parson O' Dumford by Fenn, George Manville
Things are just where they weer, and unless Master Dick comes down, the works will keep shut.”
From The Parson O' Dumford by Fenn, George Manville
Catch’t e the burd-lime’s trecherus twigs, To weer he chanc’d to stray, The burd iz fassend fathers leaves, Then gladly flies away.
From Random Rhymes and Rambles by Wright, William Aldis
“Don’t know, on’y as it weer a man in a cart.”
From The Parson O' Dumford by Fenn, George Manville
“It weer owd Simmy Slee as made it wuss, wi’ cootting o’ them bands,” said Big Harry.
From The Parson O' Dumford by Fenn, George Manville
D'ye mind the wee lassie that was sae still till she began to know ye—the weest one of them a'?
From Between You and Me by Lauder, Harry, Sir
They built, and they presented to me, the weest piano ever you saw—a piano so wee that it could be carried in an ordinary motor car.
From A Minstrel in France by Lauder, Harry, Sir
To-day is Quentin's birthday and he loved his gifts, perhaps most of all the weest, cunningest live pig you ever saw, presented him by Straus.
From Letters to His Children by Roosevelt, Theodore
You're sure you've never regretted—never had the weest doubt that it might have been better with—someone else?
From The First Man by O'Neill, Eugene
He, the "old bird," the cool hand, the sharp one of Ours, to have been done brown, to be the joke of the mess, the laugh of all the men, down to the weest drummer-boy!
From Cecil Castlemaine's Gage, Lady Marabout's Troubles, and Other Stories by Ouida
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.
