Describing Size and Scale: English Vocabulary List

above average in amount or size

"The house is large."

"Our new apartment is large enough for all of our furniture."

very large in size

"The truck is huge."

"The huge truck could not fit inside the small garage at all."

extremely large in size

"The dog looks giant."

"The giant sunflower grew taller than our fence during the hot summer months."

magnificent in size and appearance

"The palace is grand."

"The grand ballroom was full of elegant guests and beautiful flowers last night."

extremely large or heavy

"The ship is massive."

"The massive earthquake destroyed many buildings in the city center yesterday afternoon completely."

extremely small

"The insect is tiny."

"The tiny kitten slept comfortably in the palm of my hand for hours."

below average in size

"The bird is little."

"The little girl put her toys away carefully before going to bed at night."

too small to be seen with the naked eye

"The germ is microscopic."

"Microscopic bacteria can cause serious illness if they enter your bloodstream through a cut."

having a very small size

"The toy is teeny."

"She found a teeny shell on the beach and decided to keep it forever."

characterized by a limited or reduced size

"This is a small-scale project."

"The small-scale experiment worked well so they expanded it to a national level quickly."

describing something that is small enough to fit in a pocket

"My phone is pocket-sized."

"The pocket-sized dictionary is very useful for students who travel to school every day."

describing something that is smaller than usual, typically in a cute or compact way

"Her bag is mini-sized."

"The mini-sized cupcakes were perfect for the children's birthday party that was held last week."

extremely small or minuscule in size

"The camera is micro."

"The micro chip inside the phone is too small to see clearly without a magnifying glass."

extremely small, typically between 1 and 100 billionths of a meter, where materials show unique properties

"The device is nanoscale."

"Nanoscale particles can target cancer cells without damaging healthy tissue around them effectively."

smaller than the typical or expected size

"His shirt is undersized."

"The undersized shirt did not fit him so he decided to give it away immediately."

below average in physical size

"The box is small."

"The small coffee shop on the corner serves the best espresso in the entire town."

having a size that is not too big or too small, but rather in the middle

"I want a medium drink."

"She ordered a medium pizza with extra cheese for her hungry friends who were coming over."

having a relatively large size

"They have a sizable garden."

"The company made a sizable donation to help the local children's hospital buy much needed equipment."

to increase the size, scale, or dimensions of something, typically making it larger or more substantial than it was before

"The restaurant will upsize your drink."

"Many fast food restaurants offer customers the option to upsize their meals for an extra charge."