diminutive

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.

Dictators, autocrats and other malign actors strategically use humor as a type of diminutive to minimize their real intent and to distract the public and media.

From Salon • Jan. 18, 2026

The bespectacled and diminutive officer became military chief in 2011, as Myanmar broke with its history of iron-fisted martial rule and began its latest experiment with democracy.

From Barron's • Dec. 23, 2025

Memorable figures include the town barber and perpetual bachelor, Jayber Crow, and the Falstaffian 300-pound farmer Ptolemy Proudfoot, who lives happily with his diminutive wife, Miss Minnie.

From The Wall Street Journal • Oct. 23, 2025

Fearing he’s a has-been, the diminutive, balding Hart slowly succumbs to self-loathing.

From Los Angeles Times • Oct. 17, 2025

At times, when a dubious or complex combination was played, or when the diminutive American Reshevsky took one hour and ten minutes on one move, twenty-two hundred eyebrows seemed to rise in unison.

From "Endgame" by Frank Brady