lilliputian

From the name of a fictional island called Lilliput in the novel Gulliver's Travels by Jonathan Swift

• (US) IPA^(key): /ˌlɪlɪˈpjuʃən/

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lilliputian (plural lilliputians)

1. A very small person or being.
   • 1726 October 28, [Jonathan Swift], chapter I, in Travels into Several Remote Nations of the World. In Four Parts. […] [Gulliver’s Travels], volume I, London: Printed for Benj[amin] Motte, […], OCLC 995220039, part II (A Voyage to Brobdingnag):

     I reflected what a mortification it must prove to me, to appear as inconsiderable in this nation, as one single Lilliputian would be among us.

2. (genetics) A fruit fly gene that, when mutated, make cells abnormally small. See AFF2.

• lilliputianism

• tiddler
• munchkin

lilliputian (comparative more lilliputian, superlative most lilliputian)

1. Very small, diminutive
2. Trivial, petty

• See also Thesaurus:tiny

• brobdingnagian