big/small

Từ điển Oxford Learners Wordfinder Dictionary

1 big and small
2 very big and very small
3 becoming bigger or smaller
see also IMPORTANT

1 big and small
- big in size: big, large
a big person/building/town/car ◎ a great big balloon ◎ These shoes are too big for me. ◎ a large store ◎ two large steaks ◎ a large area of land ◎ to get bigger
Note: big and large mean the same thing. Large is usually used more formally than big; it is not often used to describe people.
- not large in size or amount: small, little
a small person/building/project/improvement ◎ a small number of people ◎ a little girl ◎ to get smaller
Note: small is usually the opposite of big or large; we say smaller and smallest but not littler or littlest; little often follows other adjectives to express the way you feel about sth:
a horrid little boy ◎ a beautiful little house ◎ a tiny little place
- how big or small sth is: size (noun C/U)
Have you got them in a smaller size? ◎ I was astonished at the size of the building. ◎ smaller in size
- of a size that is neither very big nor very small: medium(-sized), average(-sized)
a medium-sized town ◎ 'What sizes have you got?' 'Small, medium and large.' ◎ I wouldn't say she's particularly tall - just average, really.
※ more on size SIZE
- the sizes of clothes CLOTHES
- different ways of being big or small FAT/THIN/THICK, HEIGHT, LONG/SHORT, WEIGHT, WIDE/NARROW
- having a lot of space: roomy, spacious
a spacious flat
- taking up a lot of space; difficult to move or carry: bulky
They aren't heavy but they're difficult to carry because they're so bulky.

2 very big and very small
- very large in size, amount or extent: huge, massive, vast, enormous
a huge elephant ◎ a massive earthquake ◎ a vast expanse of water ◎ an enormous building/person/field
- big, tall and impressive: imposing
an imposing mountain/building
- very small: tiny, minute, (informal, especially in Scotland) wee, (formal) diminutive
a tiny house/person/amount ◎ minute quantities of carbon monoxide ◎ a wee girl ◎ a diminutive figure
- very small; so small that you cannot see it: microscopic
a microscopic animal

3 becoming bigger or smaller
- to get bigger: grow*, increase in size; noun (U): growth; adjective: growing
The plant grew three centimetres in one week. ◎ The population has grown over the last ten years. ◎ The hole in the ozone layer is increasing in size every year. ◎ The doctors are worried about the growth of the tumour. ◎ a growing child
- to become bigger or fuller: swell* (up); to make sth bigger or fuller: swell* sth; adjective: swollen
Your feet swell when they get hot. ◎ Two days of continuous rain had swollen the rivers. ◎ Her face was all swollen - it looked like somebody had hit her.
- to get smaller: shrink*, decrease in size; to cause sth to get smaller: shrink* sth; adjective: shrinking
My jumper shrank in the wash.
※ more on the growth of people, animals or plants GROW
- (used especially about metals and other materials; also used about commercial and other activities) to get bigger: expand; to cause sth to get bigger: expand sth; noun (U): expansion; adjective: expanding
Metals expand when they get hot. ◎ They're expanding the company over the next two years.
- (used especially about metals and other materials; also used about commercial and other activities) to get smaller: contract; noun (U): contraction
Metals contract when they get cold. ◎ Further contraction of the steel industry is inevitable.
- to make sth bigger in size (a photograph, for example): enlarge sth; an act of making sth larger: enlargement; a thing (usually a photograph) that has been made larger: enlargement
I need to enlarge this picture
- to make sth look bigger than it is: magnify sth
We could see the cells magnified 6 000 times under the microscope
※ becoming bigger/smaller in number or quantity INCREASE/DECREASE
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- small, neat and taking up little space: compact
These new computers are very compact - you can put them in a suitcase.
- small enough to fit in your pocket: pocket (only before a noun)
a pocket calculator