sized

1. 1
   adjective

   Having a particular size, normally fixed by a preceding adverb or noun that states how large or small something is.

   The studio came with a decent-sized kitchen and plenty of natural light.

   He carried a travel-sized bottle of shampoo through the security line.

   Note

   An adjective that almost never stands alone. It works as the second half of a compound and is hyphenated before a noun. One pattern measures by comparison with a thing, as in pea-sized or refrigerator-sized. The other qualifies the size with a word like fair or badly, as in a fair-sized dog. It has no degrees: the size lives in the first element, so nothing is more sized than anything else.

2. 2
   verb

   Simple past and past participle of size.

   The factory sized the bolts to exact specifications before shipping them.

   Workers sized the canvas with glue to prepare it for painting.

   Note

   One spelling serves as both the past tense and the participle. The participle is where the verb shades into the compound adjective: a bolt sized to specification has had something done to it. The verb reaches well beyond adjusting dimensions. Soldiers were sized by height for the ranks, ore is sized to sift fine from coarse, and proteins are sized by molecular weight. Colloquially, it also means estimating how big something is.

Showing meanings only. Show all 2