Short vs. Small — What's the Difference?

Lacking length.

Limited in size.

Brief in duration.

Young or younger.

Insufficient in quantity.

Minor in importance.

Less than the usual height.

Low in volume.

Abrupt or curt in manner.

Limited in degree.

Measuring a small distance from end to end

Being below average in size

Lasting or taking a small amount of time

Being below average in quantity or extent

Relatively small in extent

Limited in importance or significance; trivial

(of a vowel) categorized as short with regard to quality and length (e.g. in standard British English the vowel /ʊ/ in good is short as distinct from the long vowel /uː/ in food).

Having limited position, influence, or status; minor

(of a person) terse; uncivil

Unpretentious; modest

(of odds or a chance) reflecting or representing a high level of probability

Not fully grown; very young

(of pastry) containing a high proportion of fat to flour and therefore crumbly.

Narrow in outlook; petty

(chiefly in sport) at, to, or over a relatively small distance

Having been belittled; humiliated

A drink of spirits served in a small measure.

Diluted; weak. Used of alcoholic beverages.

A short film as opposed to a feature film.

Lacking force or volume

A short sound such as a short signal in Morse code or a short vowel or syllable

Lowercase

A short circuit.

In small pieces

A person who sells short.

Without loudness or forcefulness; softly.

A mixture of bran and coarse flour.

In a small manner.

Short-circuit or cause to short-circuit

A part that is smaller or narrower than the rest

Sell (stocks or other securities or commodities) in advance of acquiring them, with the aim of making a profit when the price falls

Small things considered as a group.

Having little length; not long.

Chiefly British Small items of clothing.

Having little height; not tall.

Not large or big; insignificant; few in number.

Extending or traveling not far or not far enough

(figuratively) Young, as a child.

Lasting a brief time

Minuscule or lowercase, referring to written or printed letters.

Appearing to pass quickly

Humiliated or insignificant.

Not lengthy; succinct

Evincing little worth or ability; not large-minded; paltry; mean.

Rudely brief; abrupt

Not prolonged in duration; not extended in time; short.

Easily provoked; irascible

Synonym of little

Inadequate; insufficient

(archaic) Slender, gracefully slim.

Lacking in length or amount

That is small the manufactured size.

Lacking in breadth or scope

In a small fashion

Deficient in retentiveness

In or into small pieces.

Holding a trading position that is inversely related to the price of a security or index

(obsolete) To a small extent.

Of or relating to a short sale

(obsolete) In a low tone; softly.

Containing a large amount of shortening; flaky

An item labelled or denoted as being that size.

Not ductile; brittle

One who fits an item of that size.

(Linguistics) Of, relating to, or being a speech sound of relatively brief duration, as the first vowel sound in the Latin word mălus, "evil," as compared with the same or a similar sound of relatively long duration, as the first vowel sound in the Latin word mālus, "apple tree."

Any part of something that is smaller or slimmer than the rest, now usually with anatomical reference to the back.

(Grammar) Of, relating to, or being a vowel sound in English, such as the vowel sound (ă) in pat or () in put, that is descended from a vowel of brief duration.

To make little or less.

Being of relatively brief duration. Used of a syllable in quantitative prosody.

(intransitive) To become small; to dwindle.

(Slang) Close to the end of a tour of military duty.

Having little size, compared with other things of the same kind; little in quantity or degree; diminutive; not large or extended in dimension; not great; not much; inconsiderable; as, a small man; a small river.

Abruptly; quickly

Being of slight consequence; feeble in influence or importance; unimportant; trivial; insignificant; as, a small fault; a small business.

In a rude or curt manner.

Envincing little worth or ability; not large-minded; - sometimes, in reproach, paltry; mean.

At a point before a given boundary, limit, or goal

Not prolonged in duration; not extended in time; short; as, after a small space.

At a disadvantage

Weak; slender; fine; gentle; soft; not loud.

By means of a short sale

In or to small extent, quantity, or degree; little; slightly.

(Linguistics) A short syllable, vowel, or consonant.

Not loudly; faintly; timidly.

A brief film; a short subject.

The small or slender part of a thing; as, the small of the leg or of the back.

A size of clothing less long than the average for that size.

Smallclothes.

Shorts Short pants extending to the knee or above.

To make little or less.

Shorts Undershorts.

The slender part of the back

A short sale.

A garment size for a small person

One that sells short.

Limited or below average in number or quantity or magnitude or extent;

Shorts A byproduct of wheat processing that consists of germ, bran, and coarse meal or flour.

Limited in size or scope;

Shorts Clippings or trimmings that remain as byproducts in various manufacturing processes, often used to make an inferior variety of the product.

Low or inferior in station or quality;

A short circuit.

Not fully grown;

A malfunction caused by a short circuit.

Too small to be seen except under a microscope

(Baseball) A shortstop.

Not large but sufficient in size or amount;

To cause a short circuit in.

(of a voice) faint;

(Informal) To give (one) less than one is entitled to; shortchange.

Made to seem smaller or less (especially in worth);

To short-sell (a security or index).

Lowercase;

To short-circuit.

Have fine or very small constituent particles;

Having a small distance from one end or edge to another, either horizontally or vertically.

On a small scale;

(of a person) Of comparatively small height.

Having little duration.

(followed by for) Of a word or phrase, constituting an abbreviation (for another) or shortened form (of another).

That is relatively close to the batsman.

Bowled so that it bounces relatively far from the batsman.

That falls short of the green or the hole.

(gambling) Of betting odds, offering a small return for the money wagered.

Brittle, crumbly. See shortbread, shortcake, shortcrust, shortening, hot short, cold-short.

Abrupt; brief; pointed; petulant.

Limited in quantity; inadequate; insufficient; scanty.

Insufficiently provided; inadequately supplied, especially with money; scantily furnished; lacking.

Deficient; less; not coming up to a measure or standard.

(colloquial) Undiluted; neat.

(obsolete) Not distant in time; near at hand.

(finance) Being in a financial investment position that is structured to be profitable if the price of the underlying security declines in the future.

(by extension) Doubtful of, skeptical of.

Of money: given in the fewest possible notes, i.e. those of the largest denomination.

Abruptly, curtly, briefly.

Unawares.

Without achieving a goal or requirement.

Relatively far from the batsman and hence bouncing higher than normal; opposite of full.

(finance) With a negative ownership position.

A short circuit.

A short film.

A short version of a garment in a particular size.

(baseball) A shortstop.

(finance) A short seller.

(finance) A short sale or short position.

A summary account.

(phonetics) A short sound, syllable, or vowel.

(programming) An integer variable having a smaller range than normal integers; usually two bytes long.

An automobile; especially in crack shorts, to break into automobiles.

(transitive) To cause a short circuit in (something).

To short circuit.

(transitive) To shortchange.

To provide with a smaller than agreed or labeled amount.

To sell something, especially securities, that one does not own at the moment for delivery at a later date in hopes of profiting from a decline in the price; to sell short.

(obsolete) To shorten.

Deficient in.

(finance) Having a negative position in.

Not long; having brief length or linear extension; as, a short distance; a short piece of timber; a short flight.

Not extended in time; having very limited duration; not protracted; as, short breath.

Limited in quantity; inadequate; insufficient; scanty; as, a short supply of provisions, or of water.

Insufficiently provided; inadequately supplied; scantily furnished; lacking; not coming up to a resonable, or the ordinary, standard; - usually with of; as, to be short of money.

Deficient; defective; imperfect; not coming up, as to a measure or standard; as, an account which is short of the trith.

Not distant in time; near at hand.

Limited in intellectual power or grasp; not comprehensive; narrow; not tenacious, as memory.

Less important, efficaceous, or powerful; not equal or equivalent; less (than); - with of.

Abrupt; brief; pointed; petulant; as, he gave a short answer to the question.

Breaking or crumbling readily in the mouth; crisp; as, short pastry.

Brittle.

Not prolonged, or relatively less prolonged, in utterance; - opposed to long, and applied to vowels or to syllables. In English, the long and short of the same letter are not, in most cases, the long and short of the same sound; thus, the i in ill is the short sound, not of i in isle, but of ee in eel, and the e in pet is the short sound of a in pate, etc. See Quantity, and Guide to Pronunciation, 22, 30.

A summary account.

The part of milled grain sifted out which is next finer than the bran.

Short, inferior hemp.

Breeches; shortclothes.

A short sound, syllable, or vowel.

In a short manner; briefly; limitedly; abruptly; quickly; as, to stop short in one's course; to turn short.

To shorten.

To fail; to decrease.

The location on a baseball field where the shortstop is stationed

Accidental contact between two points in an electric circuit that have a potential difference

The fielding position of the player on a baseball team who is stationed between 2nd and 3rd base

Cheat someone by not returning him enough money

Create a short-circuit in

Primarily temporal sense; indicating or being or seeming to be limited in duration;

Primarily spatial sense; having little length or lacking in length;

Low in stature; not tall;

Not sufficient to meet a need;

Not holding securities or commodities that one sells in expectation of a fall in prices;

Of speech sounds (especially vowels) of relatively short duration (as e.g. the English vowel sounds in `pat', `pet', `pit', `pot', putt')

Containing a large amount of shortening; therefore tender and easy to crumble or break into flakes;

Less than the correct or legal or full amount often deliberately so;

Used of syllables that are unaccented or of relatively brief duration

(of memory) deficient in retentiveness or range;

Lacking foresight or scope;

Unwilling to endure;

Quickly aroused to anger;

Most direct;

Marked by rude or peremptory shortness;

Quickly and without warning;

Without possessing something at the time it is contractually sold;

Clean across;

At some point or distance before a goal is reached;

So as to interrupt;

At a disadvantage;

Tightly;

In a curt, abrupt and discourteous manner;

Yes, short can describe a brief period, such as a short break.

No, small is not used to describe temporal duration.

Small pertains to something having a limited overall size or volume.

Yes, a sound can be described as short if it has a brief duration.

No, food portions would be described as small, not short, as it pertains to volume or size.

Short refers to something having a limited length or duration.

Short focuses on vertical dimension or length, while small encompasses overall dimensions.

It's less common; 'short' typically describes length, so 'short box' would imply the box is not long, but it might be better to use small if referring to overall size.

Short refers to the length (like short sleeves), while small refers to the overall size.

A short break refers to the duration being brief, whereas a small break is not a common term and might imply a minor pause without specifically addressing time.

Yes, both terms describe someone who is less tall than average.

Yes, a book can be short in terms of length (number of pages) and small in physical dimensions.

Yes, short would refer to their height, and small to their overall physique.

Yes, but it typically refers to the scale or impact of the event, not its duration.

A short journey refers to the brief duration or distance, while a small journey might imply a trip of minor significance or limited distance, but it's less commonly used in this context.