lilliput

Thân thiện

In the story, Gulliver visits the land of Lilliput.

Definition

Proper noun A fictional island nation, created by Jonathan Swift in his 1726 novel Gulliver's Travels, which is inhabited by people who are only about six inches tall. The term is often used to describe anything that is very small in size or trivial in importance.

Usage

The word "Lilliput" is used as a proper noun to refer specifically to the fictional land and its characteristics. It is often used attributively to describe other small things by comparison.

Examples * In the first part of Gulliver's Travels, Lemuel Gulliver is shipwrecked on the shores of Lilliput. * The model railway featured a Lilliputian village with incredibly detailed tiny houses. * From the airplane window, the cars on the highway looked like they belonged in Lilliput.

Advanced Usage

• Lilliputian (adjective): Extremely small; diminutive. This is the most common derivative used in modern English.
  • The scientist studied the Lilliputian world of microorganisms.
• Lilliputian (noun): A very small person or thing; a trivial or petty person.
  • The debate was dominated by the squabbles of political Lilliputians.

Variants and Related Words

• Lilliputian: The standard adjective and noun form derived from "Lilliput."
• Brobdingnag: The fictional land of giants from the second part of , often used as a contrasting term to "Lilliput."

Synonyms

• Miniature (adj): Very small of its kind.
• Diminutive (adj): Extremely or unusually small.
• Pygmy (adj/noun): Used to describe something very small, though this term can be problematic when referring to people.

Antonyms

• Gigantic
• Colossal
• Brobdingnagian (derived from Brobdingnag)

Idioms and Phrases

• A Lilliputian affair/view: A perspective or matter that seems very small or insignificant.
  • Seen from space, our planetary conflicts seem like a Lilliputian affair.
• Lilliputian scale: A scale that is much smaller than life-size.
  • The architect built a model of the city on a Lilliputian scale.

Học thuật

Noun

1. a land imagined by Jonathan Swift that was inhabited by tiny people

Từ đồng nghĩa

• lilliput