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.
© Webster 1913.
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.
© Webster 1913.