Definitions

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition.

  • adjective Extremely small: synonym: small.

from The Century Dictionary.

  • Very diminutive; minute; wee.

from the GNU version of the Collaborative International Dictionary of English.

  • adjective Very small; little; puny.

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.

  • adjective very small

from WordNet 3.0 Copyright 2006 by Princeton University. All rights reserved.

  • adjective very small

Etymologies

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 4th Edition

[Alteration of Middle English tine.]

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License

From Middle English tine, tyne ("very small") + -y. Perhaps from tine.

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Examples

  • He says Americans don't care about what he calls tiny porky amendments.

    CNN Transcript Feb 11, 2009 2009

  • Top Senate Democrat Chuck Schumer seems to think Americans don't care about what he called tiny, porky amendments.

    CNN Transcript Feb 12, 2009 2009

  • He found in milk, cheese, vinegar, decayed vegetables, and in the blood and secretions of cases of plague bodies, which he described as tiny worms and which he thought were due to putrefaction.

    Disease and Its Causes William Thomas Councilman

  • Though apologetic during a three-hour appearance on Tuesday, Murdoch insisted he was at fault only for trusting the wrong people at the News of the World, which he described as a tiny portion of his vast media empire.

    unknown title 2011

  • News of the World, which he described as a tiny portion of his vast media empire.

    NPR Topics: News 2011

  • Her recommendation: Agnolotti delplin con polline di finocchio, which she describes as tiny pasta pillows stuffed with veal with fennel pollen and crispy veal breast. reprints & permissions, visit our FAQ's.

    USATODAY.com News 2011

  • Given the building's history, the Occupy protesters said they planned to use it to stage a symbolic "trial of the 1%", a figure the group uses to represent what it describes as a tiny and over-powerful economic elite.

    The Guardian World News Peter Walker 2011

  • News of the World, which he described as a tiny portion of his vast media empire.

    NPR Topics: News 2011

  • In a three-hour grilling Tuesday, 80-year-old Murdoch insisted he was at fault only for trusting the wrong people at the News of the World, which he described as a tiny portion of his vast media empire.

    unknown title 2011

  • In a three-hour grilling Tuesday, 80-year-old Murdoch insisted he was at fault only for trusting the wrong people at the News of the World, which he described as a tiny portion of his vast media empire.

    chron.com Chronicle 2011

Comments

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  • Is anybody aware of "tiny" meaning something in gang slang? I was looking at that bizarre list from the FBI of all the known gangs active in the United States, and I kept seeing things like "Tiny Papi Squad" and "Tiny Rascal Gangsters" (and others I didn't write down because they weren't so bizarre)--often enough that it seems like it must mean something.

    October 2, 2012