What does little mean

Crossword clues for little

little

Longman Dictionary of Contemporary English

little

I.adjective

COLLOCATIONS FROM OTHER ENTRIES

a big/little kiss

▪ She put her arms around him and gave him a big kiss.

a bit more/less

▪ Can we have a bit less noise, please?

a bit/little scared

▪ I was always a little scared of my father.

a lesser evil (=a bad thing, but not as bad as something else)

▪ She knew that she couldn't leave the children, so she opted for the lesser evil and stayed.

a lesser offence (=one that is not as serious as another offence)

▪ For rioting you can receive ten years in prison, while for the lesser offence of violent disorder you can receive five years in prison.

a little bit

▪ Everyone needs a little bit of encouragement.

a little bit

▪ Aren’t you being a little bit unfair?

a little brother (also a kid brother American English) (= younger brother)

▪ My kid brother was always annoying me.

a little chat

▪ Why don’t you call her and have a little chat.

a little click

▪ The neon sign made little clicks as it changed colour.

a little misunderstanding (=one that is not serious)

▪ We need to clear up this little misunderstanding.

a little nicheinformal:

▪ I feel as if I've found my little niche in life.

a little scream

▪ Mrs Wood gave a little scream.

a little secret (=a personal secret that very few people know)

▪ You must promise me that this will be our little secret.

a little talk

▪ I’m glad we’ve had this little talk.

a little town

▪ a pretty little town in the French Alps

a little walk

▪ I just felt like a little walk.

a little/a bit nervous

▪ I was a little nervous before the interview.

a little/faint/slight smile

▪ She gave him an apologetic little smile.

a little/kid sister (=a younger sister)

▪ She was very fond of her little sister.

a little/many/some/any more

▪ Can I have a little more time to finish?

▪ Are there any more sandwiches?

a little/minor mistake

▪ The essay was full of little mistakes.

a little/minor mystery

▪ It was a minor mystery how the file had survived the fire.

a little/short rest

▪ He decided to stop and take a short rest.

a little/short sleep

▪ I always have a little sleep in the afternoon.

a little/short while ago

▪ Tom got a letter from him just a little while ago.

a little/short while

▪ Wait a little while before deciding.

a little/slightly unfair (also a bit unfair British Englishspoken)

▪ You’re being slightly unfair on him.

a little/slightly worried (also a bit worried British English)

▪ I was a bit worried about my exams.

a little/small sigh

▪ Quinn let out a little sigh and closed the book.

a little/small/tiny creature

▪ tiny creatures such as mice

a little/somewhat/slightly surprised

▪ He was a little surprised by her request.

a little/tiny bit

▪ The floor was covered in tiny bits of glass.

a short/little nap

▪ A short nap may make you feel better.

a short/little/small laugh

▪ He let out a nervous little laugh.

a small/little cry

▪ The child gave a small cry and burst into tears.

a small/little favour

▪ Can you do me a small favour?

a small/little movement

▪ She made a restless little movement.

at least one occasion (=once, and probably more than once)

▪ On at least one occasion he was arrested for robbery.

be little/no consolation

▪ The fact that there has been a reduction in crime is little consolation to victims of crime.

be (little/no) room for optimism (=have a possibility that things might get better)

▪ There is little room for optimism in the current financial situation.

be more so/less so/too much so

▪ The band is popular and likely to become more so.

▪ Jerry is very honest, perhaps too much so.

be of little/no importance

▪ Where the money came from is of no importance.

bear little/no resemblance to sb/sth

▪ He bore little resemblance to the photograph in the newspaper.

bear no/little relationship to sth

▪ The allegations bore no relationship to the facts.

could at least

▪ You could at least say that you’re sorry.

dirty little

▪ you and your dirty little deals

far more/less

▪ I enjoyed it far more than I expected.

(far/rather/a little) too much

▪ There was too much work for one person.

▪ It would cost far too much to have the thing repaired.

have little to eat (=not have enough food)

▪ The refugees had very little to eat and no clean water.

have little/no incentive to do sth

▪ Poor farmers have little incentive to grow crops for export.

have little/no patience with sb

▪ I'm afraid I have little patience with bureaucrats and their official rules.

have little/no reason to complain

▪ The school is good and parents have little reason to complain.

have more/less luck

▪ I hope you have more luck in the next competition.

have no/little alternative (but to do sth)

▪ He had no alternative but to resign.

have no/little doubt

▪ I have no doubt that you are right.

have no/little option but to do sth (=have no other choice than to do something)

▪ I had no option but to fire him.

have some/no/little credibility

▪ By then the president had ceased to have any credibility.

have some/no/little say in sth

▪ The workers had no say in how the factory was run.

higher/larger/less etc than normal

▪ The journey took longer than normal.

hold (little) interest/appeal/promise etc

▪ Many church services hold little appeal for modern tastes.

just/a little short of sth

▪ She was just short of six feet tall.

least worst

▪ Often it’s a question of choosing the least worst option.

leave no/little doubt (that) (=make people sure or almost sure about something)

▪ The evidence left no doubt that he was the murderer.

less advantaged

▪ Some of the boys come from less advantaged backgrounds.

less than perfect (=not perfect)

▪ So many excellent writers, for example Byron and Keats, were less than perfect spellers.

less well-off (=have less money)

▪ Many pensioners are less well-off than they used to be.

less/least likely

▪ The smallest puppies are the least likely to survive.

less/least likely

▪ The smallest puppies are the least likely to survive.

limited/little opportunity (=not many chances)

▪ They had little opportunity to discuss the issue beforehand.

little boy (=young male child)

▪ What a polite little boy you are.

little boy (=young son)

▪ How old is your little boy?

Little Britain

little detail (=not much detail)

▪ Maps of the area showed little detail.

Little did...know (=she did not know)

▪ Little did she know that years later she would have her own pool and luxury apartment in Florida.

little enthusiasm (=not much enthusiasm)

▪ In the nearby villages, there’s little enthusiasm for the airport.

little extras

▪ It’s got lots of useful little extras.

little finger

little foibles

▪ We all have our little foibles.

little kid

▪ She’d always loved animals since she was a little kid.

little people

▪ It’s the little people who bear the brunt of taxation.

little regard (=not enough regard)

▪ He drove himself on, with little regard for his own health.

little reward

▪ They have to work very hard for very little reward.

little scally

▪ You rude little scally!

little significance

▪ This information on its own is of little significance.

little/a lot of/no persuading

▪ He took a lot of persuading to come out of retirement it was hard to persuade him.

little/lower/high/greater etc likelihood

▪ There was very little likelihood of her getting the job.

little/no success

▪ Attempts to resolve the dispute met with little success.

little/small/minor

▪ Old cars often develop minor engine problems.

little/small/tiny

▪ He lived all his life in a small cottage by the river.

little/small/young girl

▪ I’ve known Mollie ever since I was a little girl.

lovely little

▪ He was a lovely little boy.

more/less fortunate than sb

▪ We’ve been more fortunate than a lot of farmers.

more/less frequent

▪ Her headaches are becoming less frequent.

more/most/less/equally importantly

▪ Most importantly, you must keep a record of everything you do.

nasty little

▪ You’re a nasty little brute!

no/little/not much chance

▪ The prisoners knew there was little chance of escape.

not hold out much hope/hold out little hope

▪ Negotiators aren’t holding out much hope of a peaceful settlement.

not in the least bit

▪ I’m not in the least bit interested in whose fault it is.

not matter much/matter little

▪ I don’t think it matters much what you study.

of little value

▪ The information was of little value.

or at least

▪ We’ve cleaned it all up, or at least most of it.

puny little

▪ a puny little guy

quite a bit more/less

▪ They’re worth quite a bit more than I thought.

rotten little

▪ a rotten little brat

see little/no merit in sth (=think that something is not a good idea)

▪ I can see no merit in violence.

see more/less of sb (=see someone more or less often)

▪ They’ve seen more of each other since Dan moved to London.

slightly overweight/a little overweight (also a bit overweight)

▪ He was tall and slightly overweight.

▪ He’s a bit overweight, not too much.

slightly/a little embarrassed

▪ Tom looked slightly embarrassed when his name was called out.

small/little

▪ It’s a small island, barely twenty miles long.

small/little/tiny

▪ They come from a small village in Laos.

some/a little/a long way ahead

▪ The clinic was now in sight, some way ahead.

sth happens when you least expect it

▪ Bad luck tends to happen when you least expect it.

sth is one of life’s (little) mysteries (=it is something that you will never understand – used humorously)

▪ Where socks disappear to after they’ve been washed is one of life’s little mysteries.

the little guyAmerican English (= ordinary people rather than a powerful organization such as a government or a large company)

▪ He wanted to get elected and fight for the little guy.

there is no/little/some doubt (=used to talk about how sure people are about something)

▪ There is little doubt that he will play for England one day.

tiny little

▪ a tiny little baby

to a lesser extent (also to less extent) (= less)

▪ The same is true for women, though to a lesser extent.

COLLOCATIONS FROM CORPUS

■ ADVERB

▪ Moving himself as little as possible, Chick leant forward and pressed a button.

▪ Which as a practical matter is usually about twelve years and can be as little as eight.

▪ But if they do not leave, he said, ecological disaster could be as little as five or 10 years away.

▪ These sets are no bigger than a transistor radio and cost as little as $ 100 at the nearby discount electronics store.

▪ He waited until she had closed the door then went back up, making as little noise as possible.

▪ Flipping a thousand bunches can earn a worker as little as $ 30.

▪ Mr Guerin's lawyer said he had advised Mr Guerin to say as little as possible for the time being.

▪ Subscribers also need to buy a special device that costs as little as $ 20.

relatively

▪ Even when it is in session it devotes relatively little energy to the serious scrutiny and debate of government policy.

▪ Of his formal education we know relatively little.

▪ And for better or worse, the new interactivity brings enormous political leverage to ordinary citizens at relatively little cost.

▪ The puppy will then settle in with relatively little difficulty as a member of the family.

▪ Research has reflected relatively little success in teaching moderation to severely dependent alcoholics.

▪ These facts and figures added relatively little to what was already known in outline.

▪ As a result, import prices rise relatively little even when the dollar plunges.

▪ The apathy of the people towards unemployment was one of the things that caused so little notice to be taken of it.

▪ These people here have so little conception of our world that sometimes I feel myself as if I must have dreamed it.

▪ She must have passed out, but then she had drunk so little.

▪ Most of us are like sleepwalkers here, because we notice so little.

▪ It may well be the reason why this motility pattern has previously attracted so little attention.

▪ So many stories, so little time.

▪ Or are we perhaps just a little surprised that it should take so little to set nation against nation.

too

▪ Too much there or too little?

▪ But that would be too little too late.

▪ By the time the mare impacts occurred there would probably have been too little dust available to fill the maria.

▪ Although the licensing agreement is good news for Apple, some wonder whether it is too little, too late.

▪ Surely there'd been too little time, but then her father wouldn't have needed much time, would he?

▪ Conversely, there might be too little capacity for decisive action in a cabinet system when there is no stable majority.

▪ Too much time was spent on systems considerations and too little on financial management.

▪ The question is whether it is too little too late.

very

▪ At any time, very little visiting took place and the women were always alone.

▪ The rich supposedly think otherwise -- and manage to pay very little.

▪ When Roeder began he found very little material and much that was written erroneously, even in the Dictionary of National Biography.

▪ Each is a hermetically sealed universe, bumping off the others with very little cross-pollination.

▪ The great course has changed very little since then.

▪ There would be very little potential in the relationship.

▪ We used to live in this poky flat in the middle of London when I was very little.

▪ The thin carbon dioxide atmosphere on Mars admits sunlight to the surface with very little attenuation.

■ NOUN

attention

▪ Relatively little attention has been paid to the origins of labouring class poetry.

▪ I paid little attention to him.

▪ It may well be the reason why this motility pattern has previously attracted so little attention.

▪ We spend little time on peers' expectations, for the managers devoted little attention to them.

▪ When connected and adjusted, an air pump needs very little attention.

▪ One of his great failings was paying too little attention to the daily news.

▪ Yet television paid relatively little attention to them.

▪ It was a loaner from a manufacturer and had received little attention from the borrowers ahead of me.

bit

▪ We have even found ourselves teaching a little bit of linguistics, since some of the comrades seemed interested.

▪ I got hit a little bit with Elvis and Jerry Lee Lewis.

▪ She didn't like any of this, not one little bit.

▪ A little bit of sleep was the nearest thing to consolation left for people like us.

▪ While climbing the last little bit I couldn't help thinking of all the mates who had been killed.

▪ At first we got a little bit of static from nonparents.

▪ I prefer to talk a little bit.

▪ I had to make minor adjustments, moving the steering wheel a little bit this way, a little bit that way.

boy

▪ He was unable to find work and went back to the North to be near his little boy.

▪ The little boy was too innocent to realize the implications of telling adults what they want to hear rather than the truth.

▪ Forget Sophie, who was given to drama and tantrum anyway, what about Ben, my little boy?

▪ Even the little boys polished their groins when she clipped by on the sidewalk.

▪ It was something of a shock to him to realize how fond of the little boy he had become.

▪ B.. Once there was a little boy whose name was Henry.

▪ But then they were just two little boys.

▪ The little boy laughed and ran back to where she was sitting.

brother

▪ On that occasion it was my little brother Jerry who shone.

▪ They look like big brother and little brother.

▪ It was Tess who worried and worked and felt responsible for her little brothers and sisters.

▪ He had gone on an expedition with his little brother to a discount shopping mall in Reading, Pennsylvania.

▪ He had been seeking out the spot on which his little brother was strangled and we had encountered the murderer there.

▪ She is also mean to my little brother.

▪ Francis, my husband, was like a little brother to me.

▪ And little brother Ernest would follow.

chance

▪ If there are six people walking abreast there is little chance that they will create an avenue for you to go through.

▪ This leaves little chance of obtaining job satisfaction.

▪ He believes that there is little chance of him finding a job in the near future.

▪ Despite their gains of recent weeks, opposition leaders acknowledge that they have little chance of toppling the Khartoum government by force.

▪ But that process would be complicated, and stands little chance of success.

▪ The women had claimed they were channeled into low-paying jobs with little chance for promotion.

▪ Without a theatrical release in their own domestic market, they stood little chance of recouping the money lavished on them.

▪ Or are the few crabs that we see so voracious that any new recruit stands little chance of survival?

child

▪ Suffer the little children...

▪ The little child, the wood dove, was going under.

▪ There were several families under the trees now, with little children running around and babies crawling about in the grass.

▪ The little child did not look dead at all.

▪ Shoals of little children reach up to this counter with hot handfuls of change.

▪ But you sleep softly, little child, Sunk deep in rest within your cheerless home, Only a box, brass-bound.

▪ It went faster and with more noise than the roundabouts for little children with engines and ducks and bicycles fixed on.

▪ On her second morning in Motijhil she found five little children waiting for her.

difference

▪ This little difference adds up to a large saving.

▪ It was that hour of dusk when the streetlights and headlights come on but make little difference.

▪ They drag on from generation to generation and emigration to Britain makes very little difference.

▪ The pressing seemed to make little difference and only with the extended salting times.

▪ There is little difference between the two.

▪ At the time it made little difference what it might be since I glided in and out of consciousness throughout the procedure.

▪ Amongst Sun readers, there was little difference between Labour and Conservative identifiers in their perceptions of its anti-Labour, pro-Conservative bias.

▪ The adults would take turns staying awake and fanning those sleeping, but this made little difference.

doubt

▪ There is little doubt that their handwriting skills develop at a slower pace than their linguistic skills.

▪ But there was little doubt that the Chiangs were somewhere in the background.

▪ There seems to be little doubt, however, that the development of the form imbricata is determined genetically.

▪ There is little doubt that this man deserved to die.

▪ There is little doubt that the effectiveness of the strike was greatly impaired by its internal difficulties and external opposition.

▪ There is little doubt that those Roman writers who equate slaves with concubines were telling the truth.

▪ There is little doubt that the effect would be to drastically reduce the number of generic substitutes supplied by pharmacists.

▪ There seems to be little doubt that work-inhibited students have limited faith in their ability to persevere in academic life.

evidence

▪ And there appears to be little evidence that that will occur soon.

▪ Long-term studies on mortality showed that there was little evidence to believe that losing weight will prolong your life, either.

▪ The other grave goods provide what little evidence we have for the economic basis and material culture of its population.

▪ Until recently, most studies found little evidence that job turnover was on the rise.

▪ These suppositions are rejected because there is little evidence to support them.

▪ There is little evidence of economic outcomes.

▪ There is regrettably little evidence to support or to challenge this.

▪ As yet, there is little evidence to support this conclusion.

finger

▪ Margaret offered Maura her little finger with a shy smile.

▪ The last thing he did was bite off the little finger of her left hand.

▪ The little finger is not used in harp-playing.

▪ Before long, Jennifer has Carlos wrapped around her little finger.

▪ I use it on my little finger and my fingers are real thin.

▪ I gave a little finger wave and he waved back.

▪ He nodded politely to Wakelate and took the glass of brandy with a crooked little finger.

▪ The green eyes and brown summer skin and slim legs and shapely little fingers.

girl

▪ Eva was only two then, and all I could think was that he'd stolen my little girl.

▪ One day the serious little girl brought him a small mirror, much cracked.

▪ Why not settle in, raise your little girl, sign up for the concert and drama series.

▪ She was a little girl who lived across from Ali's old Louisville home when he was at the top.

▪ The little girl lit another match.

▪ You're just an ordinary little girl.

▪ When she called me a little girl, I remember I wanted to cry.

help

▪ At present very little help can be given to such enquirers.

▪ Center Ray Ferraro made it 2-0 with a little help from Verbeek.

▪ And with a little help from its friends, the big multinational companies and landowning farmers, it is spreading its roots.

▪ There are only challenged people, who with a little help can be just like everyone else.

▪ Paul Reece keeping out Bobby Barnes, with a little help from the cross-bar.

▪ With little help from her father, she raised the younger children and saw them all through college.

▪ The concept of responsibility offers little help.

▪ Both programs are the product of congresses dominated by Democratic liberals, with little help from Republicans.

hope

▪ There's little hope in this film - the forces of law are as bad in their way as the drug barons.

▪ The Standing was in its ninth month, and there seemed little hope of compromise.

▪ And there was little hope that government intervention would bring about a more flexible cinema industry.

▪ It may seem to some of you that there's very little hope left for us in Krishnapur.

▪ Bloodied but unwilling to give up, he has little hope of winning Florida or any of the Southern state primaries Tuesday.

▪ If that is right, there is little hope unless they can quickly persuade people to start buying again.

▪ Around me I could find little hope....

interest

▪ At first sight these distinctions may seem of little interest to the archaeologist.

▪ They had little interest in matching the four-year, $ 4. 5 million contract the Florida Marlins threw at Hernandez.

▪ The Government has no little interest in this as the negative food trade gap is about £5.7 billion.

▪ With fuel cheap these days, the market has shown little interest in the issue.

▪ Increasingly high standards favour the larger wealthy companies that have little interest in tropical diseases.

▪ An angry crowd gathered, confronting the police, who showed little interest in dispersing them, and began taunting the marshals.

▪ Those involved in the experimental approach to athletics showed little interest in boosting performance.

▪ They show as little interest in their customers as do the worst government bureaucracies.

kid

▪ Me and this little kid of 12.

▪ Even that, the poor little kid didn't like.

▪ Will: For little kids it was better as a puppet show.

▪ A group of little kids were doing what is called the Carrot Dance, over by the groceries.

▪ The little kids seemed to like it.

▪ Oh yes, one of her sons has leukaemia, poor little kid, hasn't he?

▪ Last week, we got a little kid outfitted with glasses.

man

▪ The impatience of the genius with the follies of littler men gives thrust and venom to Swift's satirical output.

▪ It tickles me to see the little man so happy with him-self.

▪ The little man nodded his bald head, his eyes simple as a child's.

▪ A chubby little man in a short-sleeved sport shirt and baggy gray twill pants came out the door.

▪ In Cowley's opinion, the arrogant little man should be invited to leave the country in the very near future indeed.

▪ Before them stood a little man about the same size as the Munchkins.

▪ Before he could, the little man brought out a small laser pistol from a pouch at his belt.

▪ Walking in front of Converse was a little man called the Caporal who carried a Browning automatic rifle decorated with hibiscus.

room

▪ It was a dismal little room.

▪ I went back to my dark little room.

▪ The codes of governments and religions are usually quite explicit and allow little room for diversity or change.

▪ I went to my little room and did not turn on the light.

▪ She could see partly into the little room at the end of the main tunnel.

▪ There was another little room, the Quiet Room, plain concrete block walls without chairs or windows.

▪ Now this little room was subdivided into a dressing area and a cement-floored shower.

▪ The present world has little room for such quaint people.

sister

▪ There was a lot of deep feeling in his little sister, Joe thought, in spite of her gaiety and light-heartedness.

▪ Hold on a minute, little sister.

▪ She and Nick, and a few tough-looking boys, and an ugly girl with a squint who had two little sisters.

▪ Fifi and Carmencita watched while Mundin unwrapped the snake from around his neck and poked one end at his little sister.

▪ His little sister had sickened and died before her second birthday.

▪ His little sister gripped a shoot of fuchsia bougainvillea and wailed.

▪ She was very fond of her little sister, so pretty, so volatile, so amusing.

▪ We called my little sister Face because she had such a pretty one.

smile

▪ And Judge Lawrence Verney allowed himself a wry little smile.

▪ I gave in to that little smile.

▪ And Katie would give a smug little smile and then whisper about it half the night.

▪ It is just a little smile, and it fades fast.

▪ They only gazed back at us with eerie little smiles.

▪ A little smile, out of focus at the edge of my vision.

▪ Nicolo Sabatini permitted himself a little smile.

▪ I prompted, and he found my name and checked it off, turning to me with a cheering little smile.

thing

▪ It's an absurd little thing really and yet somehow or other it's important.

▪ They are little things that snowball against the weaker team until the contest becomes no contest.

▪ It was the little things that disturbed him.

▪ But there were frequent little things he did in speech that irritated me.

▪ Lots of little things have been suggested.

▪ He was so good in every department, they figured it would be easy for him to learn this one little thing.

▪ Inchbad was pleased to see Fenella, pretty little thing, approach them.

▪ Well now, one surely would have thought that for such little things those great big waves might have seemed threatening.

things

▪ It's the little things in life really.

▪ They are little things that snowball against the weaker team until the contest becomes no contest.

▪ The witness began to cry, and said they had a quilt and other little things.

▪ My husband continues to lie about little things, such as what he spent money on or where he had lunch.

▪ I cost him a lot in little things, but I know he wants me to ask for something big.

▪ Such little things, snow in July, are indelible.

▪ There were a lot of little things that I felt were wrong.

▪ We take the little things serious, and the big ones as a joke.

time

▪ So much remained to do, and he had so little time in which to do it.

▪ But Republicans and Democrats are wasting little time in maneuvering for political advantage.

▪ When I make the stake-out it takes too little time.

▪ Everywhere there is a hurry, and little time for dallying, or grieving.

▪ What he was asking her to do required a degree of trust that he had too little time to earn.

▪ Promoting literacy, then, will be Hass' calling for the next two years, leaving him little time to compose.

▪ Ironically, the sublime progress of Knight and Singh left little time for the real enforcers.

▪ Lamar Alexander, who spent little time in the state, got only 7 percent of the vote.

town

▪ This can be done by direct road, passing through a number of attractive little towns on the way.

▪ Coming from a little town like Westfield, we were all accepted.

▪ Le Palais, where the ferry docks, is an agreeable, unspoilt little town of ancient houses and cobbled squares.

▪ The little town crowns a low plateau just out of reach of the flood plain of the nearby Deerfield River.

▪ A mile or so north of Milford is the little town of Belper.

▪ Hard to believe, but Oro Valley was actually just a nice little town prior to becoming a sprawling, master-planned community.

▪ Take, for example, the attack on the little town of Gibeah in Judges 20.

▪ I was raised in upstate New York in a little town called Rome.

while

▪ I can't stay but a little while.

▪ Every now and then there are ledges I can rest on and even enjoy myself for a little while.

▪ A little while on my own.

▪ At least for a little while.

▪ Concentrating on Emma would help to keep her worries at bay for a little while.

▪ A little while after Castro came in.

▪ A little while later he gave his horses a rest, and returned to the spot they had refused to pass.

▪ He came down from Massachusetts for a little while and paid a call on Whitman in Brooklyn.

PHRASES FROM OTHER ENTRIES

at the (very) least

▪ But, at the very least, we want to be cut in on the deal.

▪ Each tier was held in place by tiny press studs which sprang apart at the least pressure.

▪ He threw noisy tantrums at the least provocation.

▪ I suppose I had expected anger, an outburst of violence, at the very least surprise and furious disbelief.

▪ I was sure, at the very least, that diet does had done thousands of women like me no good.

▪ Obviously, organic does signify better, or at the least an improvement, but the buyer must beware.

▪ People's lives could be at stake, or at the very least their futures.

▪ That there should be, at the least, periodic review.

(it's) no/small/little wonder (that)

a (proper) little madam

▪ She was madam, all right, a proper little madam.

a big fish in a little/small pond

a little bird told me (sth)

a little something

▪ Before that, and this should tell you a little something, it was not much more attractive for Stanford.

▪ Can yet give us a little something now, Morreen.

▪ Let me just tell you a little something!

▪ Mrs Fanning also stood up and said she could stand to leave behind a little something.

▪ Pawlowski knows a little something about horsepower.

▪ So I thought, a little push, a little shove, a little something extra to shake it loose.

▪ This time aliens stop by for a visit and leave a little something, um, behind.

▪ Well, I ate a little something in my room earlier.

a nice little earner

▪ Bethlehem will always be a nice little earner.

▪ However worthy his motives, the good doctor is on a nice little earner.

▪ It has become, let's face it, a nice little earner.

▪ Some of the nurses found it a nice little earner on top of their poor weekly pay.

▪ That would be a nice little earner for us.

▪ With an eye for a nice little earner, Del Trotter dictated his letter of application to chief sports writer Roy Collins.

at least

▪ At least fifty people were waiting in line.

▪ At least you should listen to his explanation.

▪ His name is Kevin. At least that's what he told me.

▪ His parents should at least go to his graduation.

▪ The food was terrible, but at least we had a nice view.

▪ The law has changed, at least as far as I know.

▪ Everyone on the Cardinals' roster should be here for at least part of the minicamp.

▪ For the time being, at least, the Falls was safe.

▪ It goes against calls from the London Chamber of Commerce which wants at least 1000 more free parking spaces for bikes.

▪ Lastly, they want to give tax advantages to causes deemed worthy, or at least popular.

▪ That would mean at least $ 7. 28 an hour in wages and benefits.

▪ There are at least four companies, perhaps five, that would like to start a 24-hour news channel.

▪ To all appearances, it kept a grip on at least 30 million Muslimsmore than the entire population of the Maghreb today.

▪ Unless I see at least a hint of contour, I assume a crotch has been padded.

be nothing less than sth

▪ Japan's economic recovery was seen as nothing less than a miracle.

▪ They way they treat their workers is nothing short of barbaric.

▪ But of course to Miss Hoity Toity Grenfell, it was nothing less than she expected.

▪ He come to the remarkable conclusion that Ardakke was nothing less than the setting for the next evolutionary step for mankind.

▪ In such context, between such gilt-lettered cloth-bound boards, the concession was nothing less than munificent.

▪ It is nothing less than an opportunity to save or change the world.

▪ Learn each week in 60 seconds why fashion is nothing less than a full-time job!

▪ Milosevic is nothing less than a traitor.

▪ The experience of being on Iona is nothing less than magical and I am moved to tears.

▪ The result, and the acceptance of it, is nothing less than an outrage.

black/elegant etc (little) number

good 'un/bad 'un/little 'un etc

in a world of your own/in your own little world

in less than no time

it's the least I can do

last but not least

▪ Last but not least, I would like to thank my wife for her support.

▪ Last but not least, let me introduce Jane, our new accountant.

▪ And last but not least, I thank Begona Canup for her interest in the book.

▪ Social Security has reduced poverty, and last, but by no means least, it has been a good deal for participants.

▪ And last but not least, the baby of the family.

▪ And last but not least, there are all those damn kids sharing files and scaring the media moguls shiftless.

▪ And, last but not least, its growth and production has a huge impact on the environment we live in.

▪ And, last but not least, my cousin Bishop Malduin of Kinrimund with, no doubt, his stepson Colban.

▪ And, last but not least, they might re-read the scores while listening.

least of all

▪ Dave doesn't take anything seriously, least of all himself.

▪ Nobody wants to stop you from following the career of your choice, least of all me.

▪ She told no one, least of all her husband, what she planned to do.

▪ James was no model of deportment anywhere, least of all in his marital and other personal relations.

▪ Life is no bed of roses for the new dealer, least of all if female and of a gullible disposition.

▪ No one thought it was a goal of mine, least of all me.

▪ Nobody, least of all the chancellor, one suspects, is banking on this.

▪ Not least of all, it is the San Diego neighborhood that many gays have long embraced as their own.

▪ They were not people who smiled much, least of all at children.

▪ This wasn't yet a case for the police, least of all for him.

▪ Truth is, no one has laughed at the inconsistent Campbell lately, least of all the Nets.

leave little/nothing to the imagination

▪ His creation left nothing to the imagination.

▪ Plastics - that here leave little to the imagination - were widely used in fashion.

less and less

▪ The fighting has become less and less frequent.

▪ They began spending less and less time with each other.

▪ As the war progressed, this position be-came less and less tenable and was eventually discarded.

▪ Changes over the course of 250 years meant that realities accorded less and less with formal appearances and official regulations.

▪ However, they are less and less willing either to hide or to lead lives of celibacy.

▪ It is merely that there is less and less justification for her position.

▪ It turned out not to be much-and, as it happened, he needed less and less as time went on.

▪ Now I seem to care less and less.

▪ She liked the mail-order concept, saying that working women have less and less time to shop at stores.

▪ Staff were separated less and less from pupils; they used the same library and the same resource centres.

less and less

▪ As the war progressed, this position be-came less and less tenable and was eventually discarded.

▪ Changes over the course of 250 years meant that realities accorded less and less with formal appearances and official regulations.

▪ However, they are less and less willing either to hide or to lead lives of celibacy.

▪ It is merely that there is less and less justification for her position.

▪ It turned out not to be much-and, as it happened, he needed less and less as time went on.

▪ Now I seem to care less and less.

▪ She liked the mail-order concept, saying that working women have less and less time to shop at stores.

▪ Staff were separated less and less from pupils; they used the same library and the same resource centres.

less of sth

less than helpful/honest/enthusiastic etc

▪ Although he did not reject a fact-finding mission outright, Major was clearly less than enthusiastic about the idea.

▪ But in the same interview Mr Dole, as is his way, was a little less than helpful to the president.

▪ But the way in which they are present may be less than helpful.

▪ In this dilemma, Eliot was less than helpful to his apologists.

▪ Not surprisingly, the reaction of local residents to the schemes was less than enthusiastic.

▪ The refugees are naturally less than enthusiastic about this.

▪ Those who had known him from that earlier period, however, were less than enthusiastic about his elevation.

lesser/ordinary/mere mortals

▪ A penchant for setting oneself apart and above mere mortals.

▪ And together we were emphatically co-operative that neighbouring forces were populated by lesser mortals.

▪ However, such models of the universe are not of much interest to us ordinary mortals.

▪ Lords, ladies, dukes and duchesses figure prominently among the names as well as more ordinary mortals of obviously substantial means.

▪ Miracles can be worked by Him alone, although mere mortals may entreat Him by prayer to perform them on their behalf.

▪ She held herself raised by her great prosperity above all that ordinary mortals fear and reverence.

▪ This increased exposure allows them to exploit their advantages over more ordinary mortals more easily than their predecessors could.

little horror

▪ And that little horror Zach was around.

little/old devil

▪ A true old devil, Manson vanishes in a puff of smoke.

▪ I really miss the old devil.

▪ Impotent old devils and dried-up hags always deride the efforts of the young.

▪ Indeed, I worship the little devil, but only as a travelling companion.

▪ Not that he's the worst of them, poor old devil.

▪ So much, thought Blanche, for flirting with the lascivious old devil.

▪ There was one old devil with red eyes.

little/young ones

▪ As Jack goes on hunting, the little ones look at him as an expert.

▪ Bowel frequency, for example, was little greater in the older patients than in the younger ones.

▪ Happy shall he be who takes your little ones and dashes them against the rock!

▪ Helping with academic or social tasks, the older children develop a sense of responsibility for the younger ones in the building.

▪ Mr Preston had recently cleared out his old trees and planted new young ones.

▪ Older respondents tend to state their replies in honorifics; younger ones are less reverential.

▪ The older kids were at school and two of the women had taken the younger ones to the park.

▪ They were thinking of wives and little ones far away, and wondering if they would ever see them again.

more haste less speed

more or less

▪ "Did they have what you were looking for at the hardware store?" "Yes, more or less."

▪ There were 50 people there, more or less.

▪ This report says more or less the same thing as the previous one.

▪ What she says is more or less true.

▪ Alexei was a mining engineer in the Kuzbas, but he had more or less refashioned himself into a translator.

▪ And then I was using it more or less daily for years ....

▪ As things are, it's more or less useless.

▪ Lesbians, being women, were more or less ignored as in-consequential so long as they were quiet about their sexuality.

▪ Look also for R Centauri, a red Mira-type variable more or less between the Pointers.

▪ Some programs will let you set the size of the buffer to keep more or less text.

▪ The Trilogy helped create this new man of labor, who is more or less a paralegal.

▪ This time she saw pebbles laid out over the whole of the surface, more or less evenly spaced.

more than a little

▪ Educators, meanwhile, often view business with more than a little suspicion, distrust, and envy.

▪ Gordon was, he admitted, more than a little relieved.

▪ He was more than a little disappointed that his son was not athletic.

▪ It may be no more than a little park near work or a church that you stop by during lunch hour.

▪ Love: the word would be utterly meaningless in this context; no more than a little blast of sound.

▪ Many of these ideas depend more than a little on what you believe in.

▪ The ex-boyfriend is more than a little interested.

much less

▪ I doubt Clemson will even make the finals, much less win.

▪ Even Libertarians, who advocate much less government, are happy to accept public campaign money.

▪ Even today, most politicians rarely wear neckties, much less power suits.

▪ I will become much less easily tired ... much less easily fatigued ... much less easily discouraged ... much less easily depressed.

▪ In the end, the tax brought in much less revenue than originally forecast.

▪ Its development costs are not much less than the firm's total asset value.

▪ That had to ne injected daily, but her husband recalls the injections being much less frequent.

▪ The bill now goes to the Senate, where its fate is much less assured.

▪ Try dowsing without rods: it's much less cumbersome.

much/still less

▪ The average person is unlikely to pick up this type of book, much less read it.

▪ Equally, science would be much less advanced than it is if the only available data were intuitive estimates of quantities.

▪ Half a century earlier his behaviour would have seemed much more normal and aroused much less criticism.

▪ In the end, the tax brought in much less revenue than originally forecast.

▪ On the battlefield armament was still much less important than discipline and fighting spirit.

▪ She could not afford the bus fare to see a doctor, much less his fee.

▪ The grouping of other languages of the world-and even of their number-is much less clear.

▪ There is not much chance of finding a razor blade, much less using it in the appropriate way.

▪ There was to be no pause for reflection, nor - much less - for a changeover from military to civilian rule.

no less

▪ And if his comparison was contrived, it is no less valid for that.

▪ And now ... Ace's face was no less expressive.

▪ Housman's style is no less vulnerable to the distortions of the rhymed quatrain.

▪ It is no less barbaric than killing people on a street corner.

▪ One could remain in life, in the selfless performance of secular tasks, and arrive no less securely at the goal.

▪ This helped Airtours generate no less than £8m in interest alone during the year.

▪ Yet priorities are no less a matter of concern here than in other areas.

not least

▪ There are many factors which limit productivity; not least is employee education.

▪ Alex Ferguson will have loved this, not least because questions had started to be asked of his team and star names.

▪ And it annoyed her intensely, not least of all because she still felt a long way from figuring him out!

▪ And last but not least, the baby of the family.

▪ I didn't relish this: not least because it meant that I didn't break my silence until the cheese course.

▪ Like all good music it speaks of love, not least of the medium itself.

▪ Nevertheless it requires separate assessment, not least because it drew on certain areas of experience not directly dominated by the monarch.

not the least/not in the least/not the least bit

nothing less than sth

▪ The change in Bob's behavior has been nothing less than a miracle.

▪ He is aware that what he is involved in now is nothing less than Thatcherite self-help.

▪ It is nothing less than an opportunity to save or change the world.

▪ It is nothing less than national economic and social suicide.

▪ The result, and the acceptance of it, is nothing less than an outrage.

▪ There is nothing less than a cultural cover-up about depression in men.

▪ They had stumbled in upon what was quite clearly nothing less than a pagan sacrifice.

▪ This gave her hope, for it was nothing less than a re-birth that Maggie was aiming for.

of little/no/any etc consequence

▪ Choosing the gender of your baby is an individual decision of no consequence to anybody else.

▪ During the bad weather we experienced a few disasters and events, but they were of little consequence.

▪ It clearly ranks as the first written literature of any consequence.

▪ Neither country had other exports of any consequence.

▪ No signal can be received outside that range but this is of no consequence.

▪ They were of no consequence, I knew they were of no consequence.

of no/little account

▪ Gelbspan's speech was of no account.

▪ As she grew up, her father had been of no account to her.

▪ Charles Coffin continues: The cavalry of the Army of the Potomac had been of little account.

▪ Epictetus' magic wand can make poverty of no account.

▪ In a transforming instant, the est intellectual truth is seen to be that intellectual truth is of no account.

▪ It was of no account to Vinoba Bhave a Brahmin, whether the man before him was a Brahmin or an outcaste.

▪ There was a war on and such emotional family matters were really of no account.

▪ Yet this self-protective brand of public service was of no account to the Lordly Phantasms.

▪ You are a mere picture editor, a workman, whose views on editorial staff are of no account.

precious little/few

▪ There are precious few seats inside the court room.

▪ At the moment there is precious little.

▪ Eight voices then, and precious little else.

▪ Food shopping takes time, a commodity of which most of us have precious little.

▪ From which it follows that many will choose precious little attachment.

▪ I had no answers and precious little consolation to offer him to mitigate the facts.

▪ Once the polarization occurs, there is precious little Mrs Clinton can do about it.

▪ She had to find some other way to save Angel's precious little life, and find it quickly.

▪ There was precious little to learn.

sb couldn't care less

some little/few sth

sth has much/little/nothing to recommend it

▪ The hotel has little except price to recommend it.

▪ An alternative approach-optical fibre - has much to recommend it.

▪ As such, it has much to recommend it.

▪ But in terms of an effective solution the voting method has little to recommend it.

▪ In principle this format has much to recommend it, but in this case the practice has not been successful.

▪ It is plain that, in the long run, the gentle art of compromise has much to recommend it.

▪ Nevertheless, the principle of chisel ploughing has much to recommend it in the right conditions.

▪ Such a way of proceeding has much to recommend it, but scant progress has been made in that direction.

▪ This cooperative family decision-making has much to recommend it.

the least

▪ $10,000 is the least we'll need to repair the roof.

▪ £20,000 is the least we could accept for a car of this type.

▪ After trials, we chose the engine that used the least fuel.

▪ Find a route that is likely to have the least traffic.

▪ I was the youngest, so I always got the least pocket money.

▪ Of all the EU countries, Britain spends the least on higher education.

▪ The least anyone around here works is about 50 hours per week.

▪ Those who have been in the most danger have the least to say about it.

▪ We've selected recipes that take the least time to prepare.

▪ We decided to buy the one that cost the least.

▪ We thought this decision would produce the least harm and disruption to residents.

▪ Which jacket costs the least?

▪ Even the least likely candidate for a career in dance knew that Truitte was available after class for talk about the field.

▪ I learned that there were thousands of men pursuing my sisters, who seemed not the least bit concerned.

▪ If this happens to you, simply cut the least important information.

▪ It was the least likely millionaire's spare-room imaginable.

▪ Money was the least volatile commodity traded by Salomon Brothers and therefore the least risky.

▪ The northernmost zone has the least continuous plant cover, the most patterned ground exposed, and the narrowest range of communities.

▪ The white washed walls and bright lighting, however, make this one of the least atmospheric mausoleums you could imagine.

▪ This was to be our first meeting since the threat of further surgery or at the least, drugs.

the least of sb's worries/problems/troubles/concerns

▪ For not the least of Henry's problems was how to raise the money required for the accomplishment of such an undertaking.

▪ Greatly increased taxes and a major shift back to defence expenditure could be the least of our worries.

▪ Not the least of its problems was extreme alienation between labor and management.

▪ That was the least of her troubles.

▪ The death under somewhat dubious circumstances of a racehorse belonging to his son was frankly the least of his problems.

the line/path of least resistance

▪ If you take the line of least resistance or fail to be consistent, you will actually make things worse.

▪ Political will in such situations is a low explosive, blasting along the lines of least resistance.

▪ Pretty soon, the water, which follows the path of least resistance, has its own plan for your driveway.

▪ The priesthood built itself and if we help it along we are only following the line of least resistance.

▪ Usually he just takes the line of least resistance.

▪ When it constructs its tunnel underground the rabbit, naturally enough, takes the line of least resistance.

the little people

the little/small matter of sth

▪ But first there's the small matter of a semi-final clash that has split the household down the middle.

▪ His manifesto, of course, concerns the small matter of his life.

▪ On a good day, the building would be almost entirely rented-apart from the small matter of signing the contract.

▪ Then there was the small matter of my physical fitness.

▪ There's also the little matter of thirty-three shroud lines loops!

▪ There remains, as ever, the little matter of finance.

▪ This operation was tricky because there was the little matter of taking off my trousers and putting on my shorts.

▪ What about the small matter of the rest of the season?

the more ..., the more/the less ...

there is little/nothing to choose between sth

▪ Both make-ups can be available at the same time and, so far as value goes, there is nothing to choose between them.

▪ But there is little to choose between the two in terms of overall performance.

to say the least

▪ Mrs. Russel was upset, to say the least.

▪ These maps are difficult to understand, to say the least.

▪ As captain and opening bat, he's an important member of the side, to say the least.

▪ Cartoonish, to say the least.

▪ It is a bizarre setting, to say the least, where the boredom and indifference can be measured in metric tons.

▪ The lamps look, to say the least, unreliable.

▪ The outlook for their national teams is, to say the least, uncertain.

▪ The results of these experiments were, to say the least, puzzling to the researchers.

▪ There would be a bit of confusion, to say the least.

▪ Try as she might, her working relationship with Stephanie Marsa was strained to say the least.

to say the least

▪ As captain and opening bat, he's an important member of the side, to say the least.

▪ Cartoonish, to say the least.

▪ It is a bizarre setting, to say the least, where the boredom and indifference can be measured in metric tons.

▪ The lamps look, to say the least, unreliable.

▪ The outlook for their national teams is, to say the least, uncertain.

▪ The results of these experiments were, to say the least, puzzling to the researchers.

▪ There would be a bit of confusion, to say the least.

▪ Try as she might, her working relationship with Stephanie Marsa was strained to say the least.

too little, too late

▪ A 3 percent funding increase is too little, too late to save the tutoring program.

twist/wrap/wind sb around your little finger

EXAMPLES FROM OTHER ENTRIES

▪ a little farm on the hill

▪ a little laugh

▪ a little nap

▪ a cute little puppy

▪ a nice little house

▪ a poor little bird

▪ Alice gets angry over little things.

▪ He had climbed a little way up the tree and gotten scared.

▪ I haven't seen one of those since I was a little girl.

▪ I loved playing with blocks when I was little.

▪ It's just a little souvenir I brought back from Italy

▪ Oh, the poor little thing, he's hurt his paw.

▪ There's just that little matter of the $5000 you owe me.

▪ There were three bridesmaids at the wedding, and even the little one behaved beautifully.

▪ They've been married for ten years and have two little girls.

▪ They bought a nice little house near the beach.

▪ Todd's stupid little jokes

▪ We saw a little old lady with a walking-stick.

▪ What a lovely little dog!

▪ What an annoying little boy!

EXAMPLES FROM CORPUS

▪ Delicate little Louise, requiring round-the-clock, year-long, life-long protection.

▪ Her little boy was Johnny, seven years old, dark-eyed and sweet.

▪ On the jetty near the little lighthouse is a remarkably good restaurant.

▪ She was only about seventeen, with the most beautiful little face I had ever seen.

▪ So this little one is a surprise.

▪ The little Hoflin, who had her speciality showpiece in Act Two, did it very badly and finally tripped and fell.

▪ Where the Aztecs are is just a little short.

II.determiner

PHRASES FROM OTHER ENTRIES

at the (very) least

▪ But, at the very least, we want to be cut in on the deal.

▪ Each tier was held in place by tiny press studs which sprang apart at the least pressure.

▪ He threw noisy tantrums at the least provocation.

▪ I suppose I had expected anger, an outburst of violence, at the very least surprise and furious disbelief.

▪ I was sure, at the very least, that diet does had done thousands of women like me no good.

▪ Obviously, organic does signify better, or at the least an improvement, but the buyer must beware.

▪ People's lives could be at stake, or at the very least their futures.

▪ That there should be, at the least, periodic review.

(it's) no/small/little wonder (that)

a (proper) little madam

▪ She was madam, all right, a proper little madam.

a big fish in a little/small pond

a little bird told me (sth)

a little something

▪ Before that, and this should tell you a little something, it was not much more attractive for Stanford.

▪ Can yet give us a little something now, Morreen.

▪ Let me just tell you a little something!

▪ Mrs Fanning also stood up and said she could stand to leave behind a little something.

▪ Pawlowski knows a little something about horsepower.

▪ So I thought, a little push, a little shove, a little something extra to shake it loose.

▪ This time aliens stop by for a visit and leave a little something, um, behind.

▪ Well, I ate a little something in my room earlier.

a nice little earner

▪ Bethlehem will always be a nice little earner.

▪ However worthy his motives, the good doctor is on a nice little earner.

▪ It has become, let's face it, a nice little earner.

▪ Some of the nurses found it a nice little earner on top of their poor weekly pay.

▪ That would be a nice little earner for us.

▪ With an eye for a nice little earner, Del Trotter dictated his letter of application to chief sports writer Roy Collins.

at least

▪ At least fifty people were waiting in line.

▪ At least you should listen to his explanation.

▪ His name is Kevin. At least that's what he told me.

▪ His parents should at least go to his graduation.

▪ The food was terrible, but at least we had a nice view.

▪ The law has changed, at least as far as I know.

▪ Everyone on the Cardinals' roster should be here for at least part of the minicamp.

▪ For the time being, at least, the Falls was safe.

▪ It goes against calls from the London Chamber of Commerce which wants at least 1000 more free parking spaces for bikes.

▪ Lastly, they want to give tax advantages to causes deemed worthy, or at least popular.

▪ That would mean at least $ 7. 28 an hour in wages and benefits.

▪ There are at least four companies, perhaps five, that would like to start a 24-hour news channel.

▪ To all appearances, it kept a grip on at least 30 million Muslimsmore than the entire population of the Maghreb today.

▪ Unless I see at least a hint of contour, I assume a crotch has been padded.

be nothing less than sth

▪ Japan's economic recovery was seen as nothing less than a miracle.

▪ They way they treat their workers is nothing short of barbaric.

▪ But of course to Miss Hoity Toity Grenfell, it was nothing less than she expected.

▪ He come to the remarkable conclusion that Ardakke was nothing less than the setting for the next evolutionary step for mankind.

▪ In such context, between such gilt-lettered cloth-bound boards, the concession was nothing less than munificent.

▪ It is nothing less than an opportunity to save or change the world.

▪ Learn each week in 60 seconds why fashion is nothing less than a full-time job!

▪ Milosevic is nothing less than a traitor.

▪ The experience of being on Iona is nothing less than magical and I am moved to tears.

▪ The result, and the acceptance of it, is nothing less than an outrage.

be nothing/little short of sth

▪ First, I would strongly advise other CEOs to follow our experience because the results stood to be nothing short of spectacular.

▪ It is little short of tragic that she has been cut off, while still at the peak of her singing power.

▪ The 18 tracks of the new record are so dizzyingly dexterous, the live show should be nothing short of amazing.

▪ The city hopes to attract around 3.5 million visitors annually, but last year's figures were little short of disastrous.

▪ The quality of sound via these outputs is nothing short of amazing.

▪ The result is nothing short of brilliant and has met with raves in all the glossy industry mags.

▪ This is nothing short of a scandal.

▪ What they envision is nothing short of a new corporate structure, in which accounting and other functions are outsourced.

black/elegant etc (little) number

funny little sth

good 'un/bad 'un/little 'un etc

have/hold sth in your hot little hand

in a world of your own/in your own little world

in less than no time

it's (a little/bit) late in the day (to do sth)