Smallness is the quality or condition of being small in size, amount, or importance. A marble has smallness compared to a basketball. A puddle has smallness compared to a lake. The word captures that characteristic of being little, minor, or limited in scale.

You can think about smallness in physical terms: the smallness of an ant, the smallness of your little sister's hands compared to yours. But smallness also describes amounts and significance. A five-dollar budget has smallness compared to a five-hundred-dollar budget. A disagreement about which game to play at recess has smallness compared to deciding where your family will move.

Sometimes smallness is exactly what you want. The smallness of a microchip allows it to fit inside a phone. The smallness of a hummingbird lets it hover at flowers. A kind gesture might seem to have smallness in the moment, like holding a door open for someone, but these small acts can matter more than we realize.

The opposite of smallness is largeness or greatness. When someone dismisses the smallness of a problem, they mean it's not worth worrying about. But when someone points out the smallness of a person's thinking, they're suggesting that person needs to expand their perspective and see bigger possibilities.