Di*min"u*tive (?), a. [Cf. L.
deminutivus, F. diminutif.] 1.
Below the average size; very small; little.
2. Expressing diminution; as, a
diminutive word.
3. Tending to diminish. [R.]
Diminutive of liberty.
Shaftesbury.Di*min"u*tive, n. 1.
Something of very small size or value; an insignificant
thing.
Such water flies, diminutives of
nature.
Shak.
2. (Gram.) A derivative from a noun,
denoting a small or a young object of the same kind with that denoted
by the primitive; as, gosling, eaglet,
lambkin.
Babyisms and dear diminutives.
Tennyson.
☞ The word sometimes denotes a derivative verb which
expresses a diminutive or petty form of the action, as
scribble.