different between little vs spare
little
English
Etymology
From Middle English litel, from Old English l?tel, from Proto-Germanic *l?tilaz (“tending to stoop, crouched, little”), from Proto-Indo-European *lewd- (“to bend, bent, small”), equivalent to lout +? -le. Cognate with Dutch luttel, regional German lütt and lützel, West Frisian lyts, Low German lütt, Old High German luzzil, Middle High German lützel, Old English l?tan (“to bow, bend low”); and perhaps to Old English lytig (“deceitful, lot deceit”), Gothic ???????????????????? (liuts, “deceitful”), ???????????????????????? (lutjan, “to deceive”); compare also Icelandic lítill (“little”), Swedish liten, Danish liden, lille, Gothic ???????????????????????????? (leitils), which appear to have a different root vowel. More at lout.
Pronunciation
- (Received Pronunciation) IPA(key): /?l?t?l/, [?l?tl?], [?l?.t???]
- (General American) IPA(key): /?l?tl?/, [?l?.???], [???.??]
- (General New Zealand) IPA(key): /?l?tl?/
- (General Australian) IPA(key): /?l?.???/
- Rhymes: -?t?l
- Hyphenation: lit?tle
- Homophone: Littell
Adjective
little (comparative less or lesser or littler, superlative least or littlest)
- Small in size.
- Insignificant, trivial.
- (offensive) Used to belittle a person.
- (offensive) Used to belittle a person.
- Very young.
- (of a sibling) Younger.
- (also Little) Used with the name of a place, especially of a country or its capital, to denote a neighborhood whose residents or storekeepers are from that place.
- 1871 October 18, The One-eyed Philosopher [pseudonym], "Street Corners", in Judy: or the London serio-comic journal, volume 9, page 255 [1]:
- If you want to find Little France, take any turning on the north side of Leicester square, and wander in a zigzag fashion Oxford Streetwards. The Little is rather smokier and more squalid than the Great France upon the other side of the Manche.
- 2004, Barry Miles, Zappa: A Biography, 2005 edition, ?ISBN, page 5:
- In the forties, hurdy-gurdy men could still be heard in all those East Coast cities with strong Italian neighbourhoods: New York, Baltimore, Philadelphia and Boston. A visit to Baltimore's Little Italy at that time was like a trip to Italy itself.
- 2020, Richa Bhosale, "Croatian Hall in need of repairs to remain open," Timmins Daily Press:
- "The theatre was bought by the Croatian immigrants as so many immigrants came here in the ’30s and mostly for mining jobs, but in Schumacher itself it was called little Zagreb, and Zagreb is the capital city of Croatia. There were so many of them that they wanted to have their own little community, so they bought the theatre and they renovated it at that time, remodelled it and made it into a Croatian Hall," she explained.
- 1871 October 18, The One-eyed Philosopher [pseudonym], "Street Corners", in Judy: or the London serio-comic journal, volume 9, page 255 [1]:
- Having few members.
- Short in duration; brief.
- I feel better after my little sleep.
- Small in extent of views or sympathies; narrow; shallow; contracted; mean; illiberal; ungenerous.
- The long-necked geese of the world that are ever hissing dispraise, / Because their natures are little.
- 2001, Nicholas Petsalis-Diomidis, The Unknown Callas: the Greek Years, pg 547.
- Showing unmistakably what a little person he really was, in June 1949 he wrote his newly married daughter with nauseating disregard for the truth
Usage notes
Some authorities regard both littler and littlest as non-standard. The OED says of the word little: "the adjective has no recognized mode of comparison. The difficulty is commonly evaded by resort to a synonym (as smaller, smallest); some writers have ventured to employ the unrecognized forms littler, littlest, which are otherwise confined to dialect or imitations of childish or illiterate speech." The forms lesser and least are encountered in animal names such as lesser flamingo and least weasel.
Antonyms
- (small): large, big
- (young): big
- (younger): big
Derived terms
Translations
Adverb
little (comparative less or lesser, superlative least)
- Not much.
- We slept very little last night.
- Little disappointed, then, she turned attention to "Chat of the Social World," gossip which exercised potent fascination upon the girl's intelligence. She devoured with more avidity than she had her food those pretentiously phrased chronicles of the snobocracy […] distilling therefrom an acid envy that robbed her napoleon of all its savour.
- Not at all.
Antonyms
- much
Translations
Determiner
little (comparative less, superlative least)
- Not much, only a little: only a small amount (of).
- There is (very) little water left.
- We had very little to do.
Usage notes
- Little is used with uncountable nouns, few with plural countable nouns.
- Little can be used with or without an article. With the indefinite article, the emphasis is that there is indeed some, albeit not much:
- We have a little money, so we'll probably get by.
- With no article or the definite article (or what), the emphasis is on the scarcity:
- We have little money, and little hope of getting more.
- The little (or What little) money we have is all going to pay for food and medication, so we can't save any.
See also
- a little
Antonyms
- (not much): much
Translations
Pronoun
little
- Not much; not a large amount.
- Little is known about his early life.
Noun
little (plural littles)
- A small amount.
- Can I try a little of that sauce?
- Many littles make a mickle. (Scottish proverb)
- Little did he do to make me comfortable.
- If you want some cake, there's a little in the refrigerator
- (BDSM, slang) The participant in ageplay who acts out the younger role.
- (colloquial, college slang) A newly initiated member of a sorority.
Antonyms
- (BDSM): big
Derived terms
- little space
Related terms
- a little
- li'l, li'l', lil
- little by little
- little old
- belittle (cognate verb)
Anagrams
- tillet
little From the web:
- what little women character are you
- what little boys are made of
- what little wonder
- what little girl
- what little woman died
- what little island is in the allstate commercial
spare
English
Pronunciation
- (Received Pronunciation) IPA(key): /?sp??(?)/
- (General American) IPA(key): /?sp???/
- Rhymes: -??(?)
Etymology 1
From Middle English spare, spar, from Old English spær (“sparing, scant”), from Proto-Germanic *sparaz (compare with Dutch spaar(zaam), German spar(sam) and spär(lich), Swedish spar(sam), Icelandic sparr (“sparing”)), from Proto-Indo-European *sper- (compare Latin (pro)sperus (“lucky”), Old Church Slavonic ????? (spor?, “plentiful”), Albanian shperr (“earn money”), Persian ????? (sep?r, “entrust; deposit”), Ancient Greek ??????? (sparnós, “rare”), Sanskrit ????? (sphirá, “thick”)).
Adjective
spare (comparative sparer, superlative sparest)
- Scant; not abundant or plentiful.
- a spare diet
- Sparing; frugal; parsimonious; not spending much money.
- 1602, Richard Carew, Survey of Cornwall
- He was spare, […] but discreet of speech.
- 1602, Richard Carew, Survey of Cornwall
- Being more than what is necessary, or what must be used or reserved; not wanted, or not used; superfluous.
- I have no spare time.
- Held in reserve, to be used in an emergency.
- a spare anchor; a spare wheel or tyre
- Not occupied or in current use.
- Lean; lacking flesh; meager; thin; gaunt.
- (Britain, informal) Very angry; frustrated or distraught.
- When he found out that someone had broken the window, he went spare.
- The poor girl is going spare, stuck in the house all day with the kids like that.
- 2006, Tate Hallaway, Tall, Dark & Dead:
- “That'll drive him spare.”
- (obsolete, Britain, dialect) Slow.
- (Can we find and add a quotation of Grose to this entry?)
Derived terms
Descendants
- ? Welsh: sbâr
Translations
Noun
spare (plural spares)
- The act of sparing; moderation; restraint.
- 1600, Philemon Holland, The Romane Historie
- men slaine, then without any spare at all they trampled over the dead carkasses
- 1600, Philemon Holland, The Romane Historie
- Parsimony; frugal use.
- An opening in a petticoat or gown; a placket.
- That which has not been used or expended.
- A spare part, especially a spare tire.
- A superfluous or second-best person, specially (in a dynastic context) in the phrase "An heir and a spare".
- (bowling) The right of bowling again at a full set of pins, after having knocked all the pins down in less than three bowls. If all the pins are knocked down in one bowl it is a double spare; in two bowls, a single spare.
- (bowling) The act of knocking down all remaining pins in second ball of a frame; this entitles the pins knocked down on the next ball to be added to the score for that frame.
- (Canada) A free period; a block of school during which one does not have a class.
Etymology 2
From Middle English sparen, sparien, from Old English sparian (“to spare, show mercy to, refrain from injuring or destroying”), from Proto-Germanic *spar?n?, *spar?n? (“to save, keep, spare”), from Proto-Indo-European *sper- (“to be productive, earn”). Cognate with Scots spar, spare, spair (“to spare”), West Frisian sparje (“to save, spare”), Dutch sparen (“to save, spare”), German sparen (“to save, conserve, economise”), Swedish spara (“to save, save up”), Icelandic spara (“to save, conserve”).
Verb
spare (third-person singular simple present spares, present participle sparing, simple past and past participle spared)
- To show mercy.
- (intransitive) To desist; to stop; to refrain.
- (intransitive) To refrain from inflicting harm; to use mercy or forbearance.
- (transitive) To preserve from danger or punishment; to forbear to punish, injure, or harm; to show mercy.
- 1883, Robert Louis Stevenson, Treasure Island
- Kill me, if you please, or spare me.
- 1883, Robert Louis Stevenson, Treasure Island
- To keep.
- (intransitive) To be frugal; not to be profuse; to live frugally; to be parsimonious.
- (transitive) To keep to oneself; to forbear to impart or give.
- (transitive) To save or gain, as by frugality; to reserve, as from some occupation, use, or duty.
- (intransitive) To be frugal; not to be profuse; to live frugally; to be parsimonious.
- (transitive) (to give up): To deprive oneself of, as by being frugal; to do without; to dispense with; to give up; to part with.
- a. 1779, Earl of Roscommon, “The Twenty-second Ode of the First Book of Horace”:
- Where angry Jove did never spare / One breath of kind and temperate air.
- c. 1597, William Shakespeare, The History of Henry the Fourth (Part 1), Act V, scene iv:
- Poor Jack, farewell! / I could have better spared a better man
- a. 1779, Earl of Roscommon, “The Twenty-second Ode of the First Book of Horace”:
Descendants
- ? Welsh: sbario
Translations
Anagrams
- Asper, Earps, Pears, Peras, RESPA, Rapes, Spear, Spera, apers, apres, après, aprés, as per, asper, pares, parse, pears, prase, presa, præs., rapes, reaps, sarpe, spear
Danish
Etymology 1
From English spare. Related to the following verb.
Pronunciation
- IPA(key): /sp??r/, [?sb????], [?sb?æ??]
Noun
spare c (singular definite sparen, plural indefinite spare or spares)
- (bowling) spare (the act of knocking down all remaining pins in second ball of a frame)
Inflection
References
- “spare,1” in Den Danske Ordbog
Etymology 2
From Old Norse spara, from Proto-Germanic *spar?n?, cognate with Swedish spara, English spare, German sparen.
Pronunciation
- IPA(key): /spa?r?/, [?sb????]
- Homophones: sparer, sparre, sparrer
Verb
spare (past tense sparede, past participle sparet)
- to save
- to spare
- to economize
- to save up
Inflection
References
- “spare,2” in Den Danske Ordbog
Dutch
Pronunciation
Verb
spare
- (archaic) singular present subjunctive of sparen
French
Etymology 1
From Latin sparus
Pronunciation
- IPA(key): /spa?/
Noun
spare m (plural spares)
- A fish of the superorder Acanthopterygii
Etymology 2
From English spare
Pronunciation
- IPA(key): /sp??/
Noun
spare m (plural spares)
- (bowling) a spare.
Related terms
- strike
German
Verb
spare
- inflection of sparen:
- first-person singular present
- first/third-person singular subjunctive I
- singular imperative
Italian
Verb
spare
- third-person singular present indicative of sparere
Anagrams
- aspre, parse, persa, presa, saper, spera
Latin
Noun
spare
- vocative singular of sparus
Middle English
Etymology 1
Noun
spare
- Alternative form of sparre
Etymology 2
Verb
spare
- Alternative form of sparren (“to close”)
Norwegian Bokmål
Etymology
From Old Norse spara
Verb
spare (imperative spar, present tense sparer, passive spares, simple past sparte, past participle spart, present participle sparende)
- to save
Derived terms
- sparebank
References
- “spare” in The Bokmål Dictionary.
spare From the web:
- what spare means
- what spare ribs
- what spare tire do i need
- what spare parts for ar-15
- what spare parts for glock 19
- what spare ribs are the best
- what spare wheel do i need
- what spare time means
you may also like
- little vs spare
- reproach vs calumny
- perfidious vs nefarious
- crowded vs heavy
- kindred vs devoted
- inconstant vs lively
- character vs qualification
- snap vs twitch
- father vs fructify
- impatient vs toey
- weighty vs gross
- original vs singular
- wash vs bathing
- jostle vs shoulder
- ignominious vs vulgar
- marble vs stone
- majestic vs pompous
- replica vs transcript
- honour vs commend
- casual vs incorrect