Describing Size and Scale: English Vocabulary List

much larger than what is expected or regular

"He wears an outsize shirt."

"The outsize suitcase was too big to fit in the overhead bin so she had to check it at the gate."

extremely large, often suggesting unwieldiness

"The desk was elephantine."

"The elephantine creature moved slowly through the jungle while the smaller animals ran away from its enormous size and power."

very large and bulky

"A hulking figure appeared."

"The hulking figure stood in the doorway blocking the light so she could not see who was standing there."

extremely large in size or scale

"The ship was titanic."

"The titanic iceberg loomed over the ship, a truly awe-inspiring and terrifying sight for the passengers."

used to describe something that is unusually large in size or scale

"The statue is gigantesque."

"The gigantesque statue in the town square honored the soldiers who had died in the war many years ago."

larger than the standard or usual size

"He wore an oversized jacket."

"The oversized sweatshirt was three sizes too big but she wore it anyway because it was comfortable and cozy at home."

very small in size, related to the fictional country of Lilliput in Jonathan Swift's "Gulliver's Travels"

"The car looks lilliputian."

"The lilliputian details on the miniature model train were so small that she needed a magnifying glass to see them properly."

very small in size or importance

"The difference is miniscule."

"The miniscule difference between the two products made it hard for customers to decide which one to buy for their needs."

very tiny in size

"She has a teeny-weeny dog."

"The teeny weeny ant carried a crumb that was twice the size of its own tiny little body across the sidewalk."

insignificant and small

"The toy car is dinky."

"The dinky little car was perfect for driving in the city because it could fit into the smallest parking spaces available anywhere."

smaller or shorter than average

"He is a pint-sized player."

"The pint sized player surprised everyone with his speed and agility on the basketball court despite being the shortest person on the team."

extremely and abnormally small

"The plant is dwarfish."

"The dwarfish tree in the bonsai garden was over a hundred years old but stood only twelve inches tall and very wide."

resembling a toy in appearance, often indicating small size, simplicity, or a playful quality

"The car is toylike."

"The toylike appearance of the tiny car made children think it was a remote control toy but it was actually a real vehicle."

having a significantly small size, often implying extreme compactness

"The camera is subminiature."

"The subminiature camera was used by spies during the cold war to take secret photos without being detected by the enemy agents."

extremely tiny, smaller than what a regular microscope can detect

"The virus is submicroscopic."

"The submicroscopic virus could not be seen with a regular microscope so the scientists used an electron microscope to study its structure."

to shrink in size

"The skin will shrivel."

"The grapes began to shrivel in the hot sun and eventually turned into raisins after several days of drying."

to make something smaller in size, amount, or intensity

"We must scale down the plan."

"The company was forced to scale down its operations after losing several major clients to competing firms in the industry."

significantly larger than the standard size

"I have a king-size bed."

"The king size bed took up almost the entire bedroom so they had to buy smaller nightstands to fit beside it properly."