■ adjective
1》 small in size, amount, or degree.
↘(of a person) young or younger: my ~ brother.
↘denoting something that is the smaller or smallest of those so named.
2》 of short distance or duration.
3》 trivial or unimportant.
■ determiner & pronoun
1》 ( a ~ ) a small amount of.
↘a short time or distance.
2》 not much.
■ adverb ( less , least )
1》 ( a ~ ) to a small extent.
2》 hardly or not at all.
Phrases
~ by ~ gradually.
no ~ considerable.
not a ~ a great deal (of).
↘very.
Derivatives
~ness noun
Origin
OE lȳtel , of Gmc origin.