Example sentences for: diminutives

How can you use “diminutives” in a sentence? Here are some example sentences to help you improve your vocabulary:

  • Stress (evident in terms like prowler, skulker, lurker , as well as Trojan horse, worm, vulture, leech ) is soothed with (or disguised by) a variety of linguistic palliatives: generous helpings from pop culture ( cookie monster, Kermit ) and science fiction ( cyberpunk, core wars, cosmic rays, emoticon ); chummy diminutives ( archie, newbie, smiley ); and jingly rhymes ( snail mail ).

  • He thought that the use of diminutives “produces the impression that the speakers are innocent, childish, genial beings, with no great business capacities or seriousness in life.”

  • It is supposed, however, that it is an abbreviation for jeroboam, which started off life as a large bowl for holding wine [I Kings xi. 28/xiv. 16]; the addition of the suffixes -y, -ie, and -ey to the main stem of a word have always been popular ways of forming diminutives.

  • In his Growth and Structure of the English Language, Otto Jespersen noted how few diminutives English has, and how little it uses them.

  • For example, over 285 names appear under George . Moreover, within each entry the names are broken down according to form and structure--for example, variants, cognates, diminutives, augmentatives, patronymics, and patronymics from diminutives-- with further classification (according to language) and comment.


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