Literary notes about smaller (AI summary)
The word "smaller" in literature is employed in a variety of ways, often serving as a comparative tool that not only denotes physical dimensions but also conveys nuances of quantity, intensity, or even metaphorical significance. In some texts, it simply indicates a reduced physical size, as in an object that is “a bit smaller” than another ([1]) or a note that is “nothing smaller than a five-pound note” ([2]). In other instances, "smaller" is used to compare groups or quantities, whether it is describing a “smaller band” of inhabitants ([3]) or the diminishing scale of government influences in a remote parish ([4]). Authors also use the term to suggest a gradation of change—from objects that get “smaller and smaller” ([5]) to more abstract uses, such as balancing conflicting interests to a “smaller or greater” degree ([6]). Even in metaphorical contexts, like the shrinking of a heart ([7]) or the reduction of legislative values ([8]), "smaller" enriches the narrative by emphasizing contrasts and changes in scale.
- I did have one like that only a bit smaller, but my son Prohor lost it.
— from Project Gutenberg Compilation of Short Stories by Chekhov by Anton Pavlovich Chekhov - I’ve got nothing smaller than a five-pound note!” H2 anchor CHAPTER III.
— from The Secret Adversary by Agatha Christie - A smaller band settled on the Wichita reservation in Oklahoma.
— from Myths of the Cherokee by James Mooney - In so extensive a country as Scotland, however, a tumult in a remote parish was not so likely to give disturbance to government as in a smaller state.
— from An Inquiry into the Nature and Causes of the Wealth of Nations by Adam Smith - When I was young, the grain was large and plentiful, but after a time it began to grow smaller and smaller.”
— from Russian Fairy Tales: A Choice Collection of Muscovite Folk-lore - The result has been a smaller or greater balancing of their conflicting interests.
— from Darkwater: Voices from Within the Veil by W. E. B. Du Bois - His heart grew smaller, it began to fuse like a bead.
— from The Rainbow by D. H. Lawrence - The smaller degree was infinitely more liable to abuse.
— from The History of the Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire by Edward Gibbon
