dwarf

Pluraldwarfs, dwarves

Formsdwarfer, dwarfest

Formsdwarfs, dwarfing, dwarfed

1. 1
   folklore beingnouncountable

   A member of a race of beings from Germanic, especially Scandinavian, folklore, usually shown with supernatural powers and skill at crafts and metalwork, often short and long-bearded, sometimes at odds with elves.

   The hero bargained with a dwarf for a sword that would never break.

   Deep beneath the mountains, the dwarfs hammered gold into wondrous treasures.

   UsageBoth dwarfs and dwarves are used. Dwarves is especially common in modern fantasy.

   Note

   Norse myth puts them beneath the mountains, in Nidavellir, where they build their famous treasures, and sometimes calls them dark elves. Source

   Checked 2 Nov 2026 · 4 facts

   • Norse dwarfs live within mountains or rocks. en.wikipedia.org
   • Nidavellir is a home of the dwarfs in Norse mythology. gutenberg.org
   • Norse dwarfs manufacture extraordinary treasures. gutenberg.org
   • Dwarfs are sometimes identified with dark elves. gutenberg.org
2. 2
   tiny (plants)adjective

   Of a miniature kind, smaller than the usual size, especially of plants.

   We planted a dwarf apple tree that will stay under eight feet tall.

   Alpine forms of the willow are very dwarf, hugging the rocks.

   UsageMostly before a noun: a dwarf apple tree. Growers also grade it: very dwarf, dwarfer, the dwarfest.

   Similarminiature, stunted, compact

   Oppositegiant

3. 3
   verbtransitive

   To be so much bigger or more important than something that it seems small or insignificant by comparison.

   Its towers dwarf every other building in the old town.

   The fishing boat was dwarfed by the cruise ship docked beside it.

   UsageOften passive: a boat dwarfed by a cruise ship.

   Similarovershadow, eclipse

   Note

   It is a verb of scale, and it sits comfortably in the passive: J. P. Wilson and E. N. C. Haywood describe a train emerging from a tunnel, its exhaust made tiny by the towering limestone walls around it. Science writing uses it the same way, with gas giants that dwarf our own Jupiter. Source

   Checked 31 Oct 2026 · 2 facts

   • The passage describes the engine's exhaust as dwarfed by the limestone cliffs. en.wiktionary.org
   • Science writing describes gas giants that dwarf Jupiter. arxiv.org
4. 4
   short personnounoffensivecountable

   A person of short stature, often with limbs short in proportion to the body compared with typical adults, usually because of a genetic condition.

   As a dwarf, she campaigned for counters and kiosks that people of every height can reach.

   Doctors told the parents that their daughter would grow up to be a dwarf, like her mother.

   UsageLittle person or person of short stature is the safest everyday choice, and a person's own preference settles it.

   Oppositegiant

5. 5
   starnouncountable

   Short for dwarf star: a small, dim star or similar object, such as a red, white, or brown dwarf.

   The planet orbits a red dwarf with about a third of the sun's mass.

   The survey found hundreds of cool brown dwarfs drifting between the stars.

   UsageUsually with a color in front: red dwarf, white dwarf, brown dwarf. The plural is dwarfs.

   Note

   Astronomers use the word for quite different objects, and the color in front does most of the work. Red and yellow dwarfs are ordinary stars of modest size, the sun among them; white dwarfs are the dense cores left when such stars die; brown dwarfs are too small to sustain hydrogen fusion. Source

   Checked 2 Nov 2026 · 6 facts

   • Red dwarfs are ordinary, relatively small main-sequence stars. science.nasa.gov
   • Yellow dwarfs are ordinary stars comparable to the Sun. science.nasa.gov
   • The Sun is a yellow dwarf of moderate size. science.nasa.gov
   • White dwarfs are stellar cores remaining after stars die. astro4edu.org
   • White dwarfs are dense remnants of low- to medium-mass stars. astro4edu.org
   • Brown dwarfs lack sufficient mass to sustain hydrogen fusion. science.nasa.gov
6. 6
   nouncountable

   An animal, plant, or other thing much smaller than is usual for its kind.

   Most of the calves grew normally, but one was a dwarf that never caught up.

   Gardeners prize the variety as a dwarf that stays compact without pruning.

   Similarrunt

   Oppositegiant

   Note

   Before another noun it names whole kinds, as in dwarf tree and dwarf honeysuckle, and there it shades into the botanist's adjective. Used on its own, it singles out the one that stayed small, the calf that never caught up, and runt is close in meaning.

7. 7
   verbtransitive

   To stop something from growing to its natural size, or to breed or develop a much smaller form of it.

   Gardeners dwarf bonsai trees by pruning their roots and branches.

   Years of poor feeding had dwarfed the herd, and the cattle were half the usual size.

   Similarstunt, miniaturize

   Note

   Here the thing really is kept small, not merely made to look small beside something bigger, as in the "tower over" meaning. It reaches past plants to minds and morals: John Campbell Shairp's Aspects of Poetry (1881) argues that even everyday moral feeling shrinks and withers once it loses its spiritual roots. Stunt is its close partner, and Shairp pairs the two. Source

   Checked 31 Oct 2026 · 4 facts

   • John Campbell Shairp wrote Aspects of Poetry. archive.org
   • Aspects of Poetry was first published in 1881, as confirmed by its first-edition title page. upload.wikimedia.org
   • Shairp argues that ordinary moral ideas and feelings would be diminished without their spiritual foundation. upload.wikimedia.org
   • Shairp pairs stunt and dwarf in this passage. upload.wikimedia.org

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