Definition

1. Adjective:

   • Very small; tiny: Used to describe something extremely small in size or stature.
   • Trivial; petty: Used to describe something of little importance or significance.
   • Relating to Lilliput: Pertaining to or characteristic of the imaginary country of Lilliput, where the inhabitants are six inches tall, from Jonathan Swift's novel Gulliver's Travels.

2. Noun:

   • A very small person: Someone who is diminutive in stature.
   • An inhabitant of Lilliput: A six-inch-tall person from the fictional land of Lilliput.

Examples

• Adjective:

  • The dollhouse was filled with lilliputian furniture.
  • He dismissed their complaints as lilliputian concerns.
  • The story described the lilliputian society in great detail.

• Noun:

  • The actor, a lilliputian, played the role of a child.
  • Gulliver was a giant among the Lilliputians.

Advanced Usage

• Used figuratively for insignificance: Often used to emphasize the trivial nature of problems, objects, or details when compared to larger, more serious matters.
  • In the grand scheme of the universe, our planetary disputes seem lilliputian.

Variants and Related Words

• Lilliput (n): The fictional island country inhabited by tiny people in .
• Brobdingnagian (adj): The antonym from the same novel, meaning gigantic or enormous.

Synonyms

• Adjective (small): Diminutive, miniature, tiny, minuscule.
• Adjective (trivial): Petty, trifling, insignificant, paltry, picayune.

Antonyms

• Adjective (small): Gigantic, enormous, colossal, Brobdingnagian.
• Adjective (trivial): Significant, important, major, substantial.

Related Phrases and Idioms

• A lilliputian effort: A very small or insignificant attempt.
  • His contribution to the project was a lilliputian effort.
• Lilliputian perspective: A viewpoint that focuses on minor details, missing the bigger picture.
  • Arguing over font size is a lilliputian perspective when we need to finalize the report's content.

Adjective

1. (informal) small and of little importance
   • a fiddling sum of money
   • a footling gesture
   • our worries are lilliputian compared with those of countries that are at war
   • a little (or small) matter
   • a dispute over niggling details
   • limited to petty enterprises
   • piffling efforts
   • giving a police officer a free meal may be against the law, but it seems to be a picayune infraction
2. very small
   • diminutive in stature
   • a lilliputian chest of drawers
   • her petite figure
   • tiny feet
   • the flyspeck nation of Bahrain moved toward democracy
3. tiny; relating to or characteristic of the imaginary country of Lilliput
   • the Lilliputian population

Noun

1. a 6-inch tall inhabitant of Lilliput in a novel by Jonathan Swift
2. a very small person (resembling a Lilliputian)